THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


/CNJ 


GOING  TO  THE  MIDSUMMER  BALL. 


THE 


FAIRY  NIGHTCAPS. 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
THE   FIVE  NIGHTCAP  BOOKS,    "AUNT  FANNTS  STCEIES," 

ETC.,    ETO. 


NEW  YOKE : 
D.    APPLETON    &    COMPANY, 

443  &  445  BROADWAY. 

LONDON:  16  LITTLE  BRITAIN. 
1861. 


ENTEEED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  I860,  by 

FANNY  BABROW, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


PZ 


TO  MASSA  CHAELES, 

- 

WHOSE  MOST  LOVABLE   QUALITIES   WERE  BUT  FAINTLY 

POETRATED   IN   THE 

FIRST     NIGHTCAP     BOOK, 

THIS 
THE    SIXTH    AND    LAST    OF    THE    SERIES, 

IS     AFFECTIONATELY 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CHILDREN. 


DEAR  CHILDREN, 

Here  is  the  last  Night- 
cap book,  making  six  in  all.  The 
story  of  "The  Three  Little  Fishes" 
was  taken  (but  very  much  altered) 
from  a  clever  book  for  grown  folks, 
written,  I  b eh"  eve,  nearly  two  hundred 
years  ago;  but  all  the  rest  is  true, 
"  real  true." 

I  have  written  them  out  with  my 


6  CHILDREN  S    PREFACE. 

heart  full  of  love  and  good  wishes  for 
you,  and  you,  and  YOU;  and  my  only 
desire  in  return  is,  that  down  in  a  cosy 
corner  of  your  dear  little  hearts,  you 
will  keep  warm,  one  kind  thought  of 
your  loving 

AUNT  FANNY. 


PAGE 

THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE  ;  WITH  AX  ACCOUNT  OF  WHAT 

THEY  DID  IN  THE  BEAUTIFUL  HOLLOW,  .  9 

THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE ;  WITH  THEIR  JOURNEY  TO 

WEST  POINT, 37 

THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE;  WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 

MIDSUMMER  BALL, 77 

THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE;  WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 
IDLEWILD,  THE  STAG  DANCE,  THE  BATTLE  OP 
THE  FAIRIES,  &c., 145 

THE  DEATH  OF  CHARLEY,        .  .  .  .209 


. 

FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS 


THE    FAIKIES'    LIFE. 

IN  the  deep  shadow  of  the  Highlands,  at 
the  foot  of  the  old  Crow  Nest  Mountain,  is  a 
wild  and  beautiful  hollow,  closed  around  on 
every  side  by  tall  trees,  interlaced  together 
by  the  clasping  tendrils  of  the  honeysuckle, 
and  the  giant  arms  of  luxuriant  wild  grape- 
vines. 

The  mossy  edge  of  this  magic  circle  is 


10  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

thickly  embroidered  with  violets,  harebells, 
perfumed  clover-blossoms,  and  delicate, 
feathery  ferns.  A  little  brook,  overhung 
with  grasses  and  whispering  leaves,  dances 
and  dimples  in  the  bright  sunlight  and  soft 
moonbeams,  and  then  trips  away,  to  offer 
the  wild-rose  leaves  that  have  fallen  upon 
his  bosom  to  his  beloved  tributary  lord,  the 
great  Hudson  River. 

Not  a  bat  dare  spread  his  unclean  leath- 
ern wings  across  this  charmed  place,  and  the 
very  owls  that  wink  and  blink  in  the  hollow 
trees  near  by  keep  their  unmusical  "hoot 
toot "  to  themselves. 

In  the  short  young  velvety  grass,  a  starry 
daisy,  or  a  sly  little  cowslip,  peeps  up  here 
and  there,  but  nothing  else  disturbs  the 


THE    FAIRIES*    LIFE.  11 

lawn-like  smoothness,  save  a  tiny  mound  of 
green  moss  near  the  centre  of  the  hollow, 
shaped  marvellously  like  a  throne. 

It  was  the  night  of  the  eighteenth  of 
June ;  and  evidently  there  was  something 
of  importance  about  to  happen  in  the  beau- 
tiful hollow,  for  presently  a  train  of  glow- 
worms came  marching  gravely  in,  and  ar- 
ranged themselves  in  a  circle  around  the 
mossy  throne ;  while  thousands  of  fire-flies 
flashed  and  twinkled  through  the  trees. 
The  soft,  coquetting  wind  wandered  caress- 
ingly among  the  flowers,  and  the  moonbeams 
rested  with  a  sweeter,  tenderer  light,  upon 
the  little  brook  which  murmured  and  rip- 
pled, and  gave  back  many  a  glancing,  loving 
beam. 


12  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

Suddenly  a  silvery  tinkling  bell  was 
heard,  like  music  at  a  distance.  Twelve 
times  it  sounded ;  and  immediately  after  an 
invisible  chorus  of  sweet  tiny  voices  were 
heard  singing : 

"  Hasten,  Elfin  !  hasten,  Fay  ! 
From  old  Crow  Nest  wing  your  way; 
Through  the  bush  and  dewy  brake, 
Fairies,  hasten,  for  the  sake 
Of  a  mortal,  whose  pure  breath 
Soon  will  fade,  and  sink  in  death  : 
We  for  him  sweet  dreams  will  find, 
We  will  fill  with  balm  the  wind  ; 
Watch  his  young  life  glide  away, 
Deck  with  beauty  its  decay — 
Till  the  closing  earthly  strife, 
Opens  into  heavenly  life." 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  13 

Instantly  the  air  seemed  filled  with 
streams  of  light  like  falling  stars ;  the  boom- 
ing sound  of  humble-bees  was  heard,  as  fairy 
knights  and  ladies  came  hastening  to  the 
call  through  the  moon-lit  air ;  the  knights 
pricking  their  chargers  with  their  wasp-sting 
spurs,  and  the  ladies  urging  theirs  quite  as 
fast,  with  their  sweet,  coaxing  voices. 

The  grave,  elderly  fairies,  came  more 
soberly.  They  crept  out  from  under  the 
velvet  mullen  leaves,  and  gravely  mounted 
their  palfreys,  which  were  small  field  mice, 
and  held  them  well  in,  with  corn-silk  bri- 
dles ;  for  elderly  fairies  are  inclined  to  be 
gouty,  and  don't  like  to  do  any  thing  in  a 
hurry;  like  other  people,  they  are  apt  to 
go  too  fast  when  they  are  young — and  to 


14  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

balance  the  matter,  are  very  slow  coaches 
when  they  are  old. 

Several  ancient  ladies,  who  had  been 
napping  in  a  secluded  nook  at  the  root  of 
an  old  tree,  waited  for  their  nutshells  and 
four  to  be  brought  up ;  and  as  the  coach- 
horses  were  represented  by  hairy,  white 
caterpillars — who  were  so  short-legged,  that 
they  took  the  longest  possible  time  to  get 
over  the  ground — and  as  the  ancient  fairies 
had  much  ado  to  fold  their  wings,  and  ar- 
range their  crinoline  in  their  carriages,  you 
may  be  sure  they  were  very  fashionably 
late. 

And  now  a  strain  of  delicious  music 
filled  the  air,  the  glow-worms  lighted  up 
brilliantly,  and  the  dew  grew  heavy  with 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  15 

fragrance,  as  the  Fairy  Queen,  with,  a  bright 
train  of  attendants,  floated  past  in  dark 
green  phaetons,  made  of  the  leaves  of  the 
camelia,  and  drawn  by  magnificently  paint- 
ed butterflies,  harnessed  and  caparisoned 
with  gold. 

The  dignity  and  queenly  presence  of  her 
Majesty  would  have  rendered  her  conspicu- 
ous above  the  rest,  even  if  her  tiny  golden 
crown  and  sceptre,  tipped  with  a  diamond 
that  blazed  like  a  meteor,  had  not  indicated 
that  she  was  a  monarch ;  and  the  acclama- 
tions that  rose  on  all  sides  attested  the  at- 
tachment her  subjects  felt  for  her  person. 

She  was  indeed  most  lovely;  and  kind 
and  generous  beyond  words  to  describe; 
and  she  had  called  her  court  together  this 


16  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

very  night  to  do  that  which  makes  both 
fairies  and  mortals  lovelier  and  better,  with 
every  new  effort.  Do  you  know  what  it  is  ? 
It  is,  trying  to  add  to  the  happiness  of  another. 

And  now  the  Queen  and  her  maids  of 
honor  gracefully  alighted  with  the  eagerly 
proffered  assistance  of  the  fashionable  young 
fairy  dandies ;  and  the  court  gathered  re- 
spectfully around,  as  the  beautiful  Queen 
seated  herself  on  her  throne,  and  gently 
waved  her  sceptre  to  command  attention. 

"My  lords,  ladies,  and  gentlemen,"  said 
her  Majesty,  in  a  voice  of  perfect  music, 
"  I  have  called  you  together  three  nights  be- 
fore our  opening  midsummer  festival,  be- 
cause I  know  by  my  fairy  power,  that  a 
mortal — a  gentle,  lovely  boy — will  arrive 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  17 

here  to-morrow,  across  whose  young  life  the 
harsh  wings  of  pain  and  affliction  have 
passed.  For  a  month  or  more  he  has  so 
drooped  and  faded,  that  I  fear,  before  long, 
his  pure  life  will  be  ended.  His  mother 
watches  over  him  with  the  undying,  untiring 
love,  which  only  a  mother  knows.  We  can 
help  her,  my  beloved  subjects,  and  we  will ; 
we  can  steal  the  venom  from  his  painful 
sleep,  by  giving  him  fairy  dreams ;  and  on 
our  gala  nights  we  will  gently  lift  him  from 
his  couch,  and  bring  him  here.  His  sweet 
presence  will  cast  no  shadow  on  our  festivi- 
ties, so  pure  and  lovely  have  been  all  the 
thoughts,  words,  and  actions  of  his  short 
life." 

A  murmur  of  pleasure  rose  from  the  as- 
2 


18  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

sembled  court,  and  the  good  and  beautiful 
Queen  saw  with  delight,  that  her  proposal 
had  given  pleasure  to  all  her  subjects,  with 
one  exception ;  and  he  was  her  very  honest, 
but  still  more  disagreeable  prime  minister, 
who,  being  a  sour,  meddlesome  old  bache- 
lor, hated  children.  His  temper  was  not 
particularly  sweet  just  then,  because  he  was 
making  wry  faces  over  an  attack  of  the  gout 
in  his  great  toe,  from  indulging  too  freely 
in  May-dew  wine,  and  eating  too  often  of 
roasted  tiger-lily,  which  is  a  very  highly 
seasoned  dish,  and  difficult  to  digest,  unless 
you  take  immediately  after  eating,  half  a 
dozen  lady-slipper  pills,  which  my  lord  the 
prime  minister  never  would  take,  on  account 
of  the  name — for  of  course,  if  he  hated  chil- 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  19 

dren  he  hated  the  ladies  also — and  as  I  was 
saying,  he  felt  very  cross,  and  inclined  to 
find  fault  with  any  thing  anybody  else  pro- 
posed ;  so  making  as  low  a  bow  as  his  stiff 
back  would  permit,  he  began,  with  an  abom- 
inable nasal  twang :  "  May  it  please  your 
Majesty,  who  is  this  child  you  deign  to  fa- 
vor so  highly  ? " 

"  He  is  called  Lame  Charley ! "  gra- 
ciously answered  the  Queen.  "He  is  the 
darling  of  all  who  know  him." 

"  Are  there  any  other  children  in  the  fam- 
ily, my  liege  ? "  snarled  the  prime  minister. 

"  About  three  dozen,  more  or  less,"  an- 
swered the  Queen,  frowning  slightly,  for  she 
was  not  quite  certain  as  to  the  number,  and 
did  not  like  to  be  questioned. 


20  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

-  "  Humph  ! "  grumbled  the  prime  minis- 
ter. Then  muttering  to  himself,  "  Three 
dozen  children  !  all  eating  dreadful  pumpkin- 
pie — with  cheeks  like  saddle-bags,  and 
voices  loud  enough  to  make  a  mummy  jump 
out  of  his  skin  in  an  ecstasy  of  astonish- 
ment at  the  noise  !  was  there  ever  such  a 
foolish  freak  ? "  whereupon,  taking  out  his 
beetle-back  snuff-box,  and  giving  it  the  tra- 
ditional taps,  he  helped  himself  to  such  a 
prodigious  pinch,  by  way  of  consolation, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  retire  precipitately 
behind  the  honeysuckles,  and  nearly  cracked 
his  left  wing  by  a  tremendous  fit  of  sneez- 
ing. For  let  me  tell  you  that  the  pollen,  or 
dust  of  the  snap-dragon,  properly  dried, 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  21 

makes  very  powerful  fairy  snuff,  and  I  ad- 
vise you  not  to  try  it. 

The  maids  of  honor  had  great  difficulty 
to  keep  from  bursting  out  laughing  at  the 
flight  of  the  cross  old  prime  minister ;  and 
the  Queen  pretended  to  arrange  her  bodice, 
made  of  the  gossamer  wing  of  the  katydid, 
to  hide  a  smile ;  but  now,  reclining  on  her 
throne,  and  gracefully  fanning  herself  with 
her  right  wing,  she  indulged  in  a  pleasant 
chat  with  her  favorites,  about  Charley. 

"  Dear  Cowslip  ! "  she  began,  "  I  am  so 
interested  in  this  lovely  boy.  Will  you  as- 
sist me  to  watch  over  him,  and  keep  away 
all  Larm  from  his  loving  brothers  and  sis- 
ters? Particularly  we  will  protect  them 
from  the  Kelpies,  those  hateful  water-sprites, 


22  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

who  would  drag  them  down  to  their  dark 
caves  beneath  the  wave,  if  »once  the  children 
ventured  upon  their  realm.  We  will  bid 
their  little  mother  to  warn  them  from  get- 
ting into  row-boats,  or  wading  out  into  the 
river ;  the  Kelpies  shall  content  themselves 
with  water-rats  and  tadpoles  for  this  time, 
for  too  many  lovely  children  have  already 
been  sacrificed  to  their  cruel  spite." 

"  Ah,  beloved  Queen ! "  answered  Cow- 
slip, "  I,  for  one,  will  help  you  with  heart 
and  will ;  those  damp,  wretched  little 
goblins  shall  not  hurt  a  hair  of  their 
heads." 

"  And  I,  with  might  and  main,  will  do 
your  behest ! "  said  the  handsome  young 
Ripple,  twisting  his  mustache. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  23 

"And  I,  gracious  Queen!"  cried  the 
pretty  Lota,  "  for  I  dearly  love  children." 

"And  I,  your  Majesty,"  said  Beeswing 
with  Eipple  and  Firefly,  "will  order  our 
regiment — the  seventh — to  encamp  under  the 
sedges  on  the  shore,  half  to  keep  watch, 
while  the  other  half  sleep  in  the  swaying 
branches  of  the  water- willows." 

"  Give  us  something  to  do  for  the  dear 
children,  dearest  Queen ! "  cried  Dewdrop 
and  Lilliebelle,  two  of  the  most  famous 
beauties  of  the  court,  and,  what  is  far  better, 
as  good  as  they  were  beautiful ;  "  let  us  also 
help  to  make  them  happy." 

"  Well  said,  fair  ladies  and  brave 
knights  ! "  exclaimed  the  Queen ;  "  with 
such  true  and  loyal  assistance,  my  labor  of 


24  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

love  will  be  most  delightful.  Come  now — 
to  the  dance — while  they  are  preparing 
supper." 

She  clapped  her  tiny  hands  thrice,  and 
immediately  the  fairy  band  commenced 
playing  the  most  enchanting  dances ;  and 
the  beautiful  hollow  was  speedily  filled  with 
couples,  whisking  away  in  such  rapid  evolu- 
tions, that  you  would  have  thought  they 
would  soon  tumble  head  over  heels,  from 
sheer  dizziness ;  but  as  the  dances  were,  after 
all,  not  very  different  from  ours,  I  suppose 
the  fairies  were  quite  as  well  used  to  the 
rushing  style ;  and,  in  good  truth,  as  they 
were  fairies,  it  seemed  more  in  keeping,  for 
these  rapid,  gracefully  undulating  move- 
ments, were  the  very  poetry  of  motion. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  25 

Of  course  the  elderly  gentlemen  fairies 
lounged  among  the  honeysuckles,  and  talked 
politics,  and  quarrelled  dreadfully  about 
who  should  be  the  next  President ;  for  they 
took  an  immense  interest  in  the  affairs  of  us 
mortals;  and  the  elderly  lady  fairies  just  as 
much,  of  course,  pulled  the  characters  of 
their  best  friends  to  pieces,  without  so  much 
as  a  single  regret ;  while  the  lovely  young 
Queen,  with  half-a-dozen  of  her  favorites, 
after  dancing  once,  to  set  the  fashion,  ordered 
her  pages  to  shake  down  a  perfect  shower  of 
wild-rose  leaves,  on'  the  edge  of  the  hollow, 
of  which  they  made  soft  and  freshly  per- 
fumed couches ;  and  there  they  listened 
to  the  exquisite  music,  and  watched  the 
dancers,  and  gaily  devised  plans  for  the 


26  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

comfort  of  our  dear  little  friend,  Lame 
Charley. 

While  they  were  thus  conversing,  a 
queer  little  elfin  sped  down  one  of  the 
moonbeams,  like  a  flash  of  summer  light- 
ning, and  in  an  instant  was  on  his  knee  be- 
fore the  Queen. 

It  was  the  fairy,  Slyboots,  the  Queen's 
favorite  messenger,  and  the  most  mischievous 
sprite  in  her  dominions. 

"  Welcome,  good  Slyboots,"  cried  the 
Queen ;  "  by  your  bright  eyes  and  unsoiled 
wings,  methinks  you  must  have  fulfilled  our 
commands  faithfully.  How  fared  you  ?  and 
how  did  you  find  our  dear  'Nightcap' 
family?" 

"  Most  gracious  Majesty  !     I  hurried  to 


THE    FAIRIES1    LIFE.  27 

the  great  city,  without  folding  wing ;  merely 
stopping  a  moment  to  torment  a  miserly  old 
landlord,  who,  the  day  before,  had  turned  a 
poor  widow,  with  two  little  children,  out  of 
his  tenement  house,  because  she  was  not 
quite  ready  with  the  rent.  I  put  a  great  fly 
on  his  nose,  and  a  great  flea  in  his  ear,  and 
ordered  them  to  stay  there,  and  buzz,  and 
bite  him,  till  he  went  nearly  into  fits." 

A  chorus  of  sweet  fairy  laughter  greeted 
this  mad-cap  caper,  and  Slyboots  embraced 
the  opportunity  to  whisper  something  to  a 
small  brown  spider,  who  had  been  listening 
with  all  his  ears,  and  staring  at  Slyboots 
with  all  his  eyes,  of  which  he  had  more  than 
his  share,  and  who  immediately  scampered 
off  with  all  his  legs. 


28  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

"  Then,  your  Majesty,"  continued  the 
elfin,  "  I  hastened  on,  and  flew  through  the 
window  into  the  room  where  Charley  slept. 
All  was  sweet,  still,  and  hushed;  and'  oh! 
how  pure  and  lovely  the  pale  boy  looked,  as 
he  lay  there,  his  hands  folded  across  his 
breast.  As  I  gazed,  a  radiant  smile  parted 
his  lips,  and  a  faint  color  came  into  his  white 
cheek.  He  was  dreaming — his  soul  was  full 
of  holy  thoughts — and  the  smile  had  come, 
as  he  saw  in  his  dream  the  Beautiful  Home 
above,  for  which  he  was  preparing. 

"  The  little  mother,  looking  wearied 
with  watching,  lay  upon  a  couch  near  him. 
As  I  hovered  over  her,  a  large  tear  crept 
from  under  her  closed  eyelid,  and  a  quick 
convulsive  sob  broke  from  her  breast,  She 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  29 

too  was  dreaming,  dreaming  of  the  sorrowful 
time  when  her  darling  would  be  taken  from 
her. 

M  swept  my  wings  lightly  across  her 
brow,  and  bade  her  waken.  She  opened  her 
eyes,  looked  upon  Charley,  and  rising,  with 
a  sigh  of  relief,  she  murmured :  *  I  have 
thee  yet,  oh  my  child !  my  darling ! '  and 
hastening  to  him,  she  softly  drew  back  the 
golden  curls  from  his  forehead,  sprinkled  a 
few  drops  of  grateful,  refreshing  perfume 
upon  his  pillow,  and  then,  tenderly  touching 
his  cheek  with  her  loving  lips,  went  com- 
forted back  to  her  couch. 

"  The  rest  of  the  children  were  in  the 
other  rooms,  fast  asleep  in  two-story  cribs, 
and  various  dear  little  beds  ;  and  I  left 


30  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

some  of  them  laughing  merrily  in  their 
sleep,  by  telling  them  one  or  two  ridiculous 
anecdotes  about  your  Majesty's  stuffy  old 
prime  min "  * 

"  Silence,  Slyboots  ! "  cried  the  Queen, 
trying  not  to  laugh.  "  You  shall  not  make 
fun  of  our  minister  to  our  face.  Go  and 
order  the  supper." 

Slyboots  grinned  sideways  at  the  maids 
of  honor,  but  bowed,  with  a  great  show  of 
penitence,  to  his  Queen.  Retiring  from  the 
presence,  he  placed  a  tiny  bugle,  fashioned 
out  of  a  small  honeysuckle,  to  his  lips,  and 
blew  a  shrill,  peculiar  blast. 

It  was  perfectly  well  understood,  for  in 
an  instant,  a  hundred  small  pink  and  white 
mushrooms  sprang  out  of  the  earth,  making 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  31 

the  most  delightful  little  tables  imaginable, 
quite  equal  to  the  finest  satin-wood,  upon 
which  the  fairy  servants  and  pages  hastened 
to  place  dishes  of  rose-leaves  filled  with 
honey-dust,  and  golden  buttercups  of  spark- 
ling May-dew,  which,  having  been  bottled 
up  for  six  weeks,  foamed  and  effervesced, 
and  gave  out  a  most  exquisite  aroma. 

This  was  for  the  young  fairies,  who  cared 
only  for  sweets.  The  elderly  fays  were  to 
be  feasted  upon  broiled  fly's  legs,  brought 
up  hot,  and  each  one  was  rolled  up  in  a 
leaf  of  pepper-grass,  which  gave  them  a 
very  piquant  seasoning.  These  were  gar- 
nished with  small  pearls,  steeped  and  soft- 
ened'in  crab-apple  vinegar,  sharp  enough 
and  sour  enough  to  draw  squeals  from  a  Ja- 


32  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

panese  ambassador,  who  never  smiles  or 
squeals  at  any  thing. 

When  all  was  ready,  the  fairies  sat  down 
at  the  tables,  in  pleasant  little  parties  of 
four  and  six,  while  the  band  played  the 
most  admired  fairy  opera  airs.  But  before 
the  banquet  was  through,  I  am  sadly  afraid 
some  of  the  gay  young  fellows  forgot  they 
were  in  the  presence  of  ladies,  they  laughed 
so  loud,  and  talked  so  much  nonsense,  and 
one  of  them  came  very  near  upsetting  the 
table  at  which  he  sat,  spilling  his  buttercup 
of  dew  all  over  the  new  gossamer  dress  »f 
Lilliebelle,  who  was  next  to  him. 

But  this  was  nothing  to  the  uproar 
which  arose  when  the  old  prime  minister, 
who  had  been  eating  flies'  legs,  and  little 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  33 

pearl  pickles,  till  lie  could  scarcely  breathe, 
attempted  to  leave  his  seat.  The  little  brown 
spider,  sent  by  that  mischievous  Slyboots, 
had  been  hard  at  work  fastening  his  wings 
together  in  a  net,  and  then  tying  them  in  a 
most  complicated  cobweb  knot  to  the  honey- 
suckle vine  just  behind  him.  The  old  prime 
minister  fairly  howled  with  rage ;  he  turned 
and  twisted  from  side  to  side ;  he  kicked  and 
made  awful  faces  at  Slyboots,  who  was 
giggling  and  laughing,  and  shaking  his  wings 
with  glee  at  a  safe  distance.  An  impudent 
mosquito  came  past,  and  sneered  out  in  his 
abominable  nasal  drone,  "You  don't  seem 
to  like  a  net  any  better  than  I  do ; "  while 
myriads  of  midges  up  in  the  air  danced  around 
him,  singing,  Why-don't-you-get-out  ?  Why- 
t 


34  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

don't-you-get-out  ?  Why-don't-you-get-out  ? 
to  which,  myriads  of  others  answered,  He- 
would-if-he-could-but-he-couldn't !  He-would- 
if-he-could-but-he-couldn't !  He-would-if-he- 
could-but-he-couldn't ! 

At  last  the  Queen,  who  had  been  giving 
some  private  orders,  inquired  what  all  the 
noise  and  laughter  meant ;  and,  in  great  an- 
ger with  Slyboots  for  thus  turning  her  old 
prime  minister  into  ridicule,  ordered  the 
saucy  goblin  to  draw  his  sword  and  release 
the  old  minister.  The  young  fairy  knights 
hastened  to  help,  for  they  all  liked  Slyboots, 
and  a  tremendous  slashing  and  cutting  at  the 
cobweb  net  ensued,  which  speedily  released 
the  poor  old  prime  minister,  who  went  off 
breathing  fury  and  vengeance. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  35 

But  hark !  What  is  that  ?  A  faint,  far- 
off  tramp  is  heard ;  the  galloping  hoofs  of 
the  steeds  of  the  morning  were  sounding  in 
the  eastern  sky,  and  the  stir  of  their  coming 
rustled  the  leaves  that  crowned  the  tops  of 
the  grand  old  trees.  The  first  cock-crow 
was  heard  in  the  distance,  and  the  fairy  sen- 
tinels sounded  the  coming  of  the  dawn  loud 
and  clear  on  their  great  morning-glory  trum- 
pets, from  the  top  of  old  Crow  Nest.  The 
sky  became  dappled,  and  a  rosy  streak' 
marched  up  to  the  zenith  like  the  "banner  of 
a  herald. 

Up  sprang  the  knights  and  ladies  and 
mounted  their  chargers ;  the  Queen  and  her 
maids  entered  their  phaetons;  the  elderly 
fairies  made  what  haste  their  dignity  per- 


36  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

mitted  to  their  nutshells  and  four,  and  field- 
mice  palfreys,  and  away  they  all  sped;  some 
through  the  air,  some  through  the  velvety 
grass ;  banners  flying,  and  music  playing, 
until  naught  was  left  but  a  shining  trail  that 
melted  into  the  first  bright  golden  beam  of 
the  morning. 


THE    CHILDREN'S   LIFE. 

IT  was  early  in  the  sweet  summer  time. 
The  young  green  leaves  were  bending  over, 
and  tenderly  caressing  the  budding  fruit  and 
flowers,  and  the  air  was  balmy  with  orchard 
blooms. 

Your  old  friends,  the  Nightcap  children, 
were  as  merry  and  happy  and  well  as  ever, 
except  Charley — poor  lame  Charley.  He 
was  much  worse ;  his  sufferings  had  greatly 
increased  with  the  dreadful  hip  disease,  and 
a  terrible  cough  racked  his  delicate  and 


38  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

wasted  frame.  Death  had  "been  coming 
slowly  on  for  a  long  time ;  but  now  lie  hasten- 
ed his  footsteps,  and  Charley  knew  that  he 
should  never  see  another  summer  in  this 
world.  He  was  not  afraid  to  die — oh,  no ! 
the  guileless,  holy  life  of  the  gentle  boy  had 
robbed  death  of  its  sting.  He  well  knew 
that  this  life  was  but  a  small  part  of  our 
career,  and  the  separation  from  those  he 
loved  so  well,  would  be  short.  His  faith  in 
his  Saviour  was  perfect  and  entire.  He 
would  soften  the  pang  of  parting  to  those 
left  behind,  and  He  would  guide  them  with 
unchanged  love  to  their  darling  in  heaven. 

The  good  little  mother  was  advised  by 
the  doctor  to  take  Charley  into  the  coun- 
try, somewhere  up  the  beautiful  Hudson 


THE  CHILDKEN'S  LIFE.  39 

Elver,  among  those  grand  old  Mils  where  the 
air  is  so  bracing  and  pure. 

It  happened,  fortunately,  that  one  of  her 
oldest  frieds,  who  was  an  officer  at  "West 
Point,  was  obliged  to  leave  there  upon  some 
government  expedition  for  about  three 
months ;  and  he  offered  his  pretty  cottage  to 
his  friend  for  that  time.  This  was  most  de- 
lightful, as  Charley  could  have  far  more  com- 
fort living  in  this  way  than  in  a  boarding- 
house;  and  the  rest  of  the  children  would 
not  have  to  be  tied  up  by  the  leg  to  the  bed- 
posts, because  their  noise  disturbed  other 
people. 

So  the  little  mother  gladly  and  gratefully 
accepted  the  offer,  and  was  now  very  busy 
making  up  dozens  of  petticoats  and  panta- 


40  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

loons,  and  coarse  brown  aprons,  and  great 
sun-bonnets,  buying  copper-toed  shoes,  so 
that  the  children  might  go  where  they 
pleased,  and  do  any  thing  they  liked,  except 
tumble  into  the  river,  or  fall  down  a  well  to 
live  with  the  bull-frogs. 

A  few  days  before  they  left,  the  grand 
Japanese  procession  took  place  in  New  York ; 
and  Minnie  said,  "  Oh,  mamma,  please  take  us 
to  see  the  Jackanapes?  which  made  the  rest 
laugh.  So  down  Broadway  they  all  went, 
looking  like  a  boarding-school  that  took 
boys  as  well  as  girls,  with  the  little  mother 
marching  like  a  captain  at  their  head,  and 
turned  into  a  fine  store,  opposite  the  City 
Hall  Park,  that  belonged  to  their  uncle, 
where  they  had  such  an  excellent  view,  that 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  41 

their  faces  were  a  perfect  picture  of  wonder 
and  delight  while  the  procession  was  passing. 

"Dear  me!"  exclaimed  George,  "I  am 
nearly  crazy  with  joy ;  I  wish  the  Japanese 
would  come  every  day.  How  funny !  they 
all  look  like  old  women  in  black  night- 
gowns ! " 

"  And  their  heads  have  little  top-knots, 
like  Poland  hens,"  said  Henry ;  "  and  see  that 
fellow  sticking  his  foot  on  the  edge  of  the 
carriage — look!  his  great  toe  is  put  in  a 
thumb!" 

At  this  they  all  laughed,  and  Harry, 
laughing  too,  cried  out :  "  I  don't  mean  that ; 
I  mean  that  they  knit  thumbs  in  their  stock- 
ings, and  stick  their  great  toes  in ; — dear  ! 
how  it  must  tickle  ! " 


42     •  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

It  was  a  grand  sight.  Many  of  the  stores 
were  decorated  with  numerous  little  Japan- 
ese flags,  which  consist  of  a  large  red  ball  in 
the  centre  of  a  plain  white  surface,  and  many 
Japanese  lanterns  were  hung  around.  The 
soldiers  looked  and  marched  splendidly ;  and 
the  fine  music  was  enchanting.  Guns  were 
firing  in  the  Park,  and  smoking  and  flaming 
like  steamboat  funnels  :  little  boys  were  pop- 
ping off  squibs  and  crackers,  and  everybody 
seemed  perfectly  happy. 

"  Dear  me ! "  cried  Arthur,  "  I  wish  I 
could  hear  the  speeches  they  intend  to  make. 
I  suppose  they  will  be  stuck  full  of  compli- 
ments, not  a  word  of  which  the  Mayor  will 
understand;  but,  of  course,  he  will  bow  a 
great  many  times  to  show  that  he  agrees 


•THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  43 

with  it  a]l :  and  then  he,  in  return,  will  make 
a  speech  to  the  ambassadors,  all  flaming  over 
with  fine  words  and  flummery,  and  the  Ja- 
panese will  bow  all  in  a  row  like  four-and- 
twenty  fiddlers — and  oh !  how  nice  it  will 
all  be!" 

When  the  children  got  home,  they  told 
Charley  about  the  grand  procession,  all 
speaking  at  once ;  and  one  of  them  put  on 
an  old  black  gown  of  his  mother's,  and  half 
shut  his  eyes,  and  would  have  shaved  his 
head,  if  his  mother  had  let  him,  to  show 
Charley  just  how  they  looked ;  because  he, 
poor  little  fellow,  had  to  stay  behind — he 
could  not  have  endured  the  fatigue  of  that 
long  day  away  from  home.  But  his  kind 
little  mother  never  forgot  him ;  she  was  de- 


44  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

termined  lie  should  see  something ;  so  about 
eight  o'clock  that  evening,  two  horses,  with 
a  nice  comfortable  barouche,  were  driven  up 
to  the  door,  and  Charley  was  tenderly  lifted 
in,  and  two  large  pillows  were  placed  behind 
and  at  his  side,  and  his  mother  and  two  of 
the  oldest  children  were  driven  slowly  down 
Broadway  to  see  the  illumination. 

The  street  was  crowded.  Beautiful  colored 
lanterns  were  hung  here  and  there,  and  little 
Japanese  flags  fluttered  in  every  direction. 
As  they  came  near  the  great  Metropolitan 
Hotel,  where  the  Japanese  were  staying,  the 
crowd  increased,  and  a  burst  of  delightful 
surprise  broke  from  Charley  and  the  rest, 
as  the  beautiful  blazing  windows  came  in 
view.  '  In  each  of  the  several  hundred  win- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  45 

dows  were  fine  Japanese  lanterns  of  different 
colors  and  two  little  flags.  Such  a  glittering 
and  a  fluttering  as  they  made  !  and  over  the 
door  was  the  word  "  Welcome,"  in  blazing 
gas-burners,  with  the  splendid  flag  of  the 
United  States  on  one  side,  and  a  great  Japan- 
ese banner  on  the  other.  Everybody  was 
shouting  and  hurrahing,  and  every  up-turned 
face  looked  happy,  but  none  so  merry  and 
joyous  as  the  children  in  the  carriage ;  their 
eyes  fairly  danced  with  delight,  and  their 
faces  looked  as  if  they  had  been  illuminated 
too.  All  they  wanted  was  to  have  two  little 
Japanese  flags  fastened  to  their  ears,  and  to 
be  placed  in  the  windows,  to  have  beaten 
the  lanterns  and  gas-burners  all  to  pieces. 
After  they  had  looked  just  as  long  as  they 


46  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

liked,  and  shouted  and  waved  their  hats, 
when  they  saw  any  of  the  Japanese  at  the  win- 
dows shaking  out  their  queer-looking  black 
pocket-handkerchiefs  with  round  white  spots, 
the  carriage  turned  round,  and  the  children 
had  a  fine  drive  home,  perfectly  delighted 
with  the  unusual  grandeur  of  a  ride  in  a  car- 
riage at  night ;  that  was  almost  the  best  of 
all,  to  be  out  after  bed-time.  They  thought 
they  could  never  admire  the  bright  stars 
enough,  which,  with  their  sleepless  eyes, 
watched  the  world  below — fit  emblems  of 
the  difference  between  the  things  made  by 
man,  and  the  enduring  works  of  God.  Be- 
fore long  those  glittering  lights  below  would 
fade  and  die ;  while  these  heavenly  lumina- 
ries would  shine  on  forever. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  47 

The  next  evening  the  little  mother  thought 
she  would  call  upon  Captain  Porter,  who  had 
the  Japanese  in  charge.  He  was  a  brave,  no- 
ble-hearted officer,  and  an  old  friend,  and  ac- 
cordingly she  went  with  some  other  friends. 
Captain  Porter  received  them  very  kindly, 
and  amused  them  very  much  with  funny  ac- 
counts of  how  the  Japanese  were  stared  at, 
and  sometimes  annoyed  by  people  who 
ought  to  know  better.  While  she  sat  there, 
there  came  a  knock  at  the  door,  and  a  mo- 
rocco case  was  handed  in :  it  was  opened ; 
and  what  do  you  think  appeared  ?  You  will 
hardly  believe  it :  some  sets  of  false  teeth  • 
one  set  of  them  jet  Mack,  as  a  present!  -  The 
little  mother  laughed,  and  wondered  if  the 
dentist  who  sent  them,  thought  the  Japanese 


48  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

would  want  to  have  their  own  teeth  pulled 
right  out,  and  these  put  right  in.  Then  two 
gentlemen  came  in,  and  wanted  Captain  Por- 
ter to  persuade  the  Japanese  to  buy  a  lot  of 
guns  from  them,  very  cheap,  indeed.  Then, 
who  do  you  think  came  in  ?  Why,  "  Little 
Tommy,"  the  young  Japanese  that  everybody 
was  talking  about. 

He  looked  so  very  smiling,  that  the  two 
comical  little  triangular  slits  in  his  head  which 
served  for  eyes  nearly  disappeared,  when 
Captain  Porter  took  him  by  the  hand  and  in- 
troduced him  to  the  little  mother. 

"How  do?"  said  he,  and  shook  hands 
with  her ;  then  he  took  up  Captain  Porter's 
sword  and  belt  and  buckled  it  round  his 
waist,  and  said,  "  Ver  good  sword,  indeed ; " 
then  he  tried  on  the  Captain's  naval  uniform 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  49 

cap,  with  the  gold  band  round  it,  and  ran 
and  looked  in  the  glass.  It  would  not  go  on 
very  well,  on  account  of  Tommy's  pig-tail, 
which  was  fastened  in  a  knot  on  the  very 
top  of  his  half-shaven  pate,  and  which  stuck 
up  rather  inconveniently:  then  the  Captain 
said,  "  Tommy,  this  lady  wants  to  see  the 
portrait  of  your  little  Washington  sweet- 
heart ;  come,  show  it  to  her." 

"  No  SHOW,"  said  Tommy ;  which  answer 
made  the  little  mother  esteem  him  very 
much,  because  it  was  plain  that  he  had  too 
much  self-respect,  and  too  much  respect  for 
the  young  lady,  if  she  was  a  little  girl  only 
twelve  years  old,  to  show  her  likeness  to 
every  stranger.  He  was  not  going  to  be 
made  fun  of.  Not  he ! 
4 


50  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

Presently  the  little  mother  got  up  to  go ; 
and,  shaking  hands  with  Tommy,  said,  "  Good- 
bye Tommy ;  I  mean  to  send  you  a  '  Night- 
cap '  book.  It  is  written  by  '  Aunt  Fanny.' 
Say,  Aunt  Fanny." 

"  Arnta  Farnny.  Yes !  I  like  it,"  answered 
Tommy,  holding  the  little  mother's  hand; 
"  but  you,"  he  continued,  "  I  like  you ;  are 
you  Spaniss  ? " 

"  No,"  said  she. 

"YouFrence?" 

"  No,"  said  she,  smiling. 

"YouAngliss?"  ' 

"No,"  said  she. 

"Why,  Tommy,  she  is  an  American," 
said  Captain  Porter. 

"  Ah,"  cried  Tommy ;  "  she  so  leetle — she 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  51 

ver  good — good-bye:"  then  lie  wrote  his 
name  on  a  card  for  her,  and  she  went  home 
very  much  pleased.  But  just  before  she 
went,  Captain  Porter  told  her  that  the  great 
phrenologist,  Mr.  Fowler,  who  knows  all 
about  you  by  merely  looking  at  the  outside 
of  your  head,  had  been  to  see  Tommy,  and 
had  told  him  that  he  had  the  most  tre- 
mendous bumps  for  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic,  that  ever  were  seen;  a  great 
bump  of  trying  on  American  clothes ;  making 
love  to  little  girls ;  eating  sugar-candy,  and 
having  a  good  time  generally ;  and  scarcely 
any  bump  at  all  for  getting  up  early  in  the 
morning,  working  hard,  or  taking  medicine ; 
in  fact,  that  his  cranium  was  as  full  as  the 
Metropolitan  Hotel,  of  all  sorts  of  good 


52  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

things;  which  flattering  description  de- 
lighted Tommy  so  much,  that  he  wrote  Mr. 
Fowler  of  his  own  accord,  and  without  any 
assistance  from  Captain  Porter  or  any  other 
dictionary,  the  following  note  of  thanks : 

METROPOLITAN  HOTEL,  NEW  YORK, 
June  22,  18GO. 

"  DEAR  SIR : — I  am  much  oblige  to  you 
the  history  and  head  some  paper  and  the 
letter  with  it  whole  my  head  examination. 
I  shall  take  it  to  Japan,  and  esteemed  much 
doctor  Kawasake  is  also  much  please  have 
been  receive  it. 

"  I  am  very  true  your  friend, 

"TATEISH  ONAJEIRO  (TOMMY)." 

And  now  every  thing  was  made  in  the 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  53 

way  of  "  anti-tear-clothes,"  as  the  children 
called  them,  and  the  express  wagon  was  sent 
for  on  the  afternoon  of  the  19th  of  June  to 
carry  the  baggage  down  to  the  steamboat, 

The  express  man  stared  with  amazement 
at  the  quantity  of  children  whisking  and 
frisking,  and  rushing  and  brushing  about  in 
the  hall;  and,  still  more,  at  the  trunks, 
boxes,  and  bundles,  that  were  brought  clat- 
tering and  tumbling  down  the  stairs  for  him 
to  take  away. 

Just  before  he  was  leaving  with  the  last 
bundle,  little  Johnny  rushed  breathless  down 
the  stairs  with  what  looked  like  a  horse's 
tail,  only  shorter  and  smaller,  in  one  hand, 
and  an  old  tin-box  that  had  once  contained 
preserved  tomatoes  in  the  other,  and  screamed 


54  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

out,  "  Here  ! — say !  man,  man !  take  this ! 
here,  take  it !  It's  mamma's  hair !  she's  for- 
gotten to  sew  it  on  her  head !  here,  pack  it 
up  in  this  tin-box,  and  tie  it  with  a  rope,  and 
put  it  on  board  the  steamboat — will  you  ? " 

Dear  me  !  how  the  poor  express  man  did 
bite  his  lips  and  swell  his  cheeks,  and  turn 
very  red,  and  try  not  to  laugh :  but  it  would 
come  out,  and  he  laughed  himself  nearly  into 
fits,  while  the  little  mother  felt  for  a  mo- 
ment as  if  she  could  have  shaken  Johnny  into 
fits,  but  only  for  a  moment ;  for,  after  all, 
what  was  the  use  of  being  angry :  he  meant  to 
be  so  useful  and  thoughtful,  and  if  her  hair  was 
so  thin,  she  had  to  buy  some  to  put  with  it — 
why,  it  was  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of;  so  she 
laughed,  too,  at  last,  and  all  the  children  joined 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  55 

/" 

in  with  such  good-will,  that  the  canary  bird 
over  the  way  hearing  such  a  pleasant  noise, 
set  up  his  pipes  and  twittered  in  company,  and 
sang  so  shrill  and  loud,  that  all  his  feathers 
stood  out  on  end  ;  and,  on  the  whole,  it  was 
thought  a  very  good  joke. 

And  now  a  great  hotel  carriage,  which  is 
about  three  times  as  large  as  any  other,  drove 
up,  and  the  children  were  packed  in  it,  till 
it  was  as  full  as  an  egg ;  and  they  gave  three 
cheers,  as  it  started,  to  the  astonishment  of 
all  the  neighbors,  and  sang  "  John  Brown 
had  a  little  Indian  "  all  the  way  down  to  the 
boat. 

There  had  been  so  many  berths  engaged 
for  one  name,  that  the  Captain  thought  there 
must  be  a  colony  going  out  west  to  set  up  a 


50  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

town  for  themselves.  But  when  he  saw  the 
family  marching  down  the  gang-plank  two- 
and-two,  like  the  animals  that  went  into  the 
ark,  from  the  biggest  to  the  smallest,  he  lifted 
up  his  hands  and  exclaimed,  "Dew  tell! 
what  an  orful  lot  of  children !  I  shud  think 
that  old  lady  'd  want  the  patience  of  Job, 
any  how ! " 

Ah !  the  Yankee-talking  Captain  didn't 
know  what  you  and  I  know — that  these 
children  all  "  loved  one  another"  and  that 
made  every  thing  easy  to  the  little  mother. 

There  was  no  wrangling  in  that  family. 
They  left  all  that  to  "  dogs  and  cats,"  and 
"  bears  and  lions,"  as  I  am  sure  all  good  chil- 
dren do.  There  was  plenty  of  noise,  to  be 
sure;  but  this  the  great  power  of  love 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  57 

changed  into  sweet  melody,  so  that,  instead 
of  irritating  you,  as  a  rude  blustering  wind 
would  do,  it  charmed  and  delighted,  because 
it  was  first  passed  over  'the  ^Eolian  harp- 
strings  of  love. 

And  now,  before  I  forget  it,  let's  have  a 
little  laugh  you  and  I,  over  that  ridiculous 
picture  of  our  "  Nightcap  children  "  in  "  Baby 
Nightcaps."  I  intended  to  have  had  a  picture 
of  the  little  mother  surrounded  by  lots  of 
pretty  children  playing  about  her ;  but,  in- 
stead of  that,  I  was  presented  with  a  family 
that  made  my  sides  ache  with  laughter. 
Such  noses  and  such  hats !  I  want  to  tip 
that  tall-spook-of-a-boy's  hat  off  his  head  ev- 
ery time  I  look  at  it ;  And  such  a  baby !  Ap- 
ple-dumpling face  and  squint  eyes !  Never 


58  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

mind !  The  funny  printer  wanted  to  make 
us  laugh,  and  I  am  sure  he  did — one  of  us, 
any  way ;  but  don't  you  believe,  for  a  mo- 
ment, that  our  Nightcap  children  looked  the 
least  like  his.  Not  a  bit  of  it ! 

"When  the  family  were  all  comfortably 
settled,  the  splendid  palace-like  steamboat — 
the  Alida — started  from  the  pier,  and  was 
soon  gliding  so  swiftly  over  the  water, 
that  the  magnificent  Palisades  rose  in  the 
blue  evening  air,  while  the  golden  glory  of 
sunset  was  still  lingering  upon  them.  Char- 
ley sat  by  his  mother,  with  his  curly  head 
pressed  close  against  her  breast ;  his  pure  and 
simple  thoughts  mirrored  in  his  sweet  face. 
He  was  silently  thanking  God  for  the  beau- 
tiful changing  picture  before  his  eyes.  All 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  59 

the  children  were  enjoying  the  trip ;  for 
their  mother  had  taught  them  to  feel  and  ap- 
preciate the  beauty,  goodness,  and  grandeur 
of  all  God's  works ;  and,  save  an  exclamation 
of  delight  now  and  then,  they  sat  quite  still. 

But  the  silence  did  not  last  long.  Of 
course  not.  If  children  are  quite  still  for 
more  than  five  minutes  at  a  time,  you  may 
be  sure  they  are  either  sick  or  in  mischief; 
so  presently  George  exclaimed, — 

"  Just  see  that  sea-gull  dipping  his  wings 
in  the  river ! " 

"That's  the  way  he  does  his  washing," 
said  Annie. 

"  Oh !  look  at  that  row-boat,"  cried  Har- 
ry; "four  gentlemen  and  three  ladies  rowing 
with  parasols." 


60  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

How  the  children  laughed,  and  pretended 
to  see  the  parasols  rowing,  till  Harry  ex- 
plained that  he  meant  that  the  ladies  had 
the  parasols,  and  the  gentlemen  were  rowing. 
His  mother  said  she  would  have  to  give  him 
a  dish  of  boiled  grammar  for  his  breakfast,  if 
he  did  not  mind  his  antecedents  better. 

"  Grammar  ! "  cried  George ;  "  dreadful ! 
Aren't  you  all  glad  school-days  are  over  for 
the  summer  ? " 

At  this  blissful  recollection  all  the  chil- 
dren clapped  their  hands  at  such  a  rate,  that 
a  fat  old  lady  jumped  up  in  a  hurry  and  gave 
a  queer  little  squeak,  because  she  thought 
the  boiler  was  bursting ;  and  although  they 
were  now  in  the  very  middle  of  the  broad  Tap- 
paan  Sea,  she  waddled  off  to  order  the  captain 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  61 

to  set  her  immediately  on  shore ;  and  a  select 
company  of  blue  jays,  who  had  Just  started 
from  the  Palisades  to  take  tea  with  some 
brown  sparrows  on  the  other  side,  turned 
somersets  and  flew  back  again,  almost  trip- 
ping each  other  up  in  their  hurry. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  answered  Annie,  "glad 
enough.  Just  think;  no  more  hard  sums 
either.  I  do  believe  arithmetic  is  meant  on 
purpose  to  torment  us,  and  that's  the  reason 
Willie  made  that  mistake  with  such  a  grave 
face,  when  the  lady  asked  him  how  far  he 
had  gotten  in  his  sums." 

"So  it  is,"  cried  Clara;  "Willie  said  he 
had  got  to  distraction ;  I,  for  one,  wish  that 
all  the  people  that  make  the  arithmetic 
books  had  to  eat  them  with  pepper-sauce 


62  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

the  moment  they  were  printed — and   that 
would  be  the  end  of  them." 

"  But  compositions !  Just  think  of  com- 
positions ! "  cried  Harry ;  "  they  are  the 
most  hateful  things.  Just  because  I  wrote 
in  my  last  one,  that  '  a  mule  is  a  beast  of 
burden  which  draws  a  rail-car  shaped  like 
a  zebra,  and  is  sometimes  used  for  carts  with 
two  long  ears  and  a  miserable  tail,'  they  all 
burst  out  laughing  at  me,  and  I  very  nearly 
cried — I  did  cry." 

"  "Well,  never  mind,  Harry,"  cried  George ; 
"  it  is  all  over  now,  and  we  are  going  to  that 
delightful  West  Point:  I  wonder  if  those 
soldiers  we  saw  parading  with  the  Japanese 
last  Saturday  came  from  West  Point  ?  they 
were  such  splendid  fellows." 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  63 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  cried  Harry ;  "  I  dare  say 
they  did ;  they  looked  as  if  they  were  afraid 
of  nothing,  but  would  be  -really  glad  to  have 
an  arm  or  a  leg  shot  off  in  every  battle,  and 
are  so  brave,  that  they  would  keep  on  fight- 
ing the  enemies  of  America,  if  they  had  only 
an  ear  and  one  great-toe  left." 

Charley  lifted  his  head  and  laughed  at 
this,  for  he  could  hear  all  the  children  were 
saying;  and  he  whispered  to  his  mother, 
"  Isn't  Harry  a  funny  fellow  ?  The  idea  of 
one  ear,  and  a  great-toe  firing  a  gun ! "  and  he 
laughed  again  a  sweet,  low  laugh ;  and  Clara, 
who  was  sitting  nearest,  took  his  small  thin 
white  hand  and  kissed  it,  and  patted  it,  and 
murmured,  "  Oh,  Charley,  I'm  so  glad  you 


64  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

are  happy  ;  I'm  so  glad  that  cruel  pain  has 
gone  away." 

All  this  time  they  had  been  passing  many 
beautiful  villages  and  elegant  country  man- 
sions, half  buried  in  luxuriant  foliage.  They 
were  now  leaving  the  Tappaan  Sea ;  and  soon 
after  the  little  mother  showed  the  children 
Sunnyside,  the  lovely  home  of  the  great 
Washington  Irving. 

"  He  does  not  live  there  any  more,"  said 
she ;  "  his  home  is  now  '  Eternal  in  the 
Heavens ; '  but  his  fame,  and  goodness,  and 
renown  will  live  in  every  land  for  many, 
many  years ;  and  I  hope  the  beautiful  Sun- 
nyside will  never  fall  into  neglect  or  decay 
as  long  as  his  memory  lasts." 

The  children  looked  with  mournful  in- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  65 

terest  at  the  beautiful  place ;  but  when  their 
mother  pointed  out  the  spot  where  Major 
Andre  was  captured,  there  was  quite  a  dif- 
ference of  opinion ;  the  boys  were  glad  that 
he,  the  spy,  was  taken  and  hung  by  the 
great  Washington,  while  the  more  tender- 
hearted girls  wished  he  could  have  escaped : 
and  Minnie  said,  "  General  Wassingter  ought 
to  have  forgiven  him,  because  he  would  not 
like  to  be  hung  himself — would  he  ? "  which, 
I  think,  was  the  goldensrule  way  of  putting 
the  case. 

And  now  the  banks  seemed  to  close  in, 
and  great  dark  mountains  rose  on  either  side. 

"  There's  Anthony's  nose,"  said  the  little 
mother. 

"Where?  where?"  cried  the  children, 
5 


66  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

and  looked  with  eager  interest,  as  the  profile 
of  a  great  Roman  nose  was  pointed  out  on 
the  edge  of  a  mountain.  They  were  also 
delighted  with  Sugar-loaf  Mountain,  and 
wished  it  had  really  been  made  of  sugar,  for 
they  thought  they  would  like  to  eat  a  hole 
through  it.  As  they  were  eagerly  gazing  at 
the  splendid  view  which  had  now  darkened 
and  deepened  "with  twilight  shadows,  a  saucy 
puff  of  wind  came  round  a  jutting  point,  and 
in  an  instant  blew  off  Minnie's  round  hat. 

"  Oh !  my  hat  I  my  hat ! "  she  screamed ; 
"  get  it !  get  it !  quick !  before  it  goes  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  runs  up  the  big 
mountains.  Oh !  get  it !  get  it ! " 

How   everybody   around   did  laugh,  as 
George  jumped  after  the  hat,  which  Minnie 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  67 

thought  would  walk  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean ; 
and  how  Minnie  jumped  and  laughed  when 
he  caught  it  just  as  it  was  flying  off  on  its 
travels.  I  have  no  words  to  tell,  but  every- 
body after  that  listened  to  the  comical  talk  of 
the  Nightcap  children,  who  caused  so  much 
merriment,  that  they  arrived  at  West  Point 
before  they  knew  it ;  but  had  to  burst  out 
with  laughter  again  as  Minnie,  gravely  look- 
ing up,  said,  "Is  this  West  Point?  Well,  I 
don't  think  it  looks  so  very,  very  Pointy." 

The  first  stars  were  peeping  out,  and  the 
little  birds  had  sung  their  evening  hymns 
and  were  hushed  into  stillness,  as  the  chil- 
dren got  into  the  stage,  the  strong  horses  of 
which  toiled  up  the  short  but  steep  ascent, 
and  they  soon  arrived  at  their  summer  home. 


68  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

"  Oh,  what  a  beautiful  cottage  ! "  exclaim- 
ed Harry,  and  George,  and  Clara ;  "  it  seems 
covered  with  roses  ;  it  must  be  the  Castle  of 
Perfect  Happiness." 

They  all  hurried  in,  in  the  most  delight- 
ful bustle ;  and  the  children  had  a  grand 
time  assisting  the  little  mother  to  unpack 
every  thing.  You  would  have  imagined,  to 
look  in  at  the  windows,  that  the  house  was 
full  of  fishes  out  of  water ;  they  kept  up  such 
a  continual  bouncing  and  fluttering  about,  but 
they  were  not  fishes,  nor  pollywogs,  nor  tad- 
poles, nor  any  thing  like  them ;  they  were  a 
company  of  capering  children,  taking  all  sorts 
of  little  boxes  and  bundles  out  of  trunks,  and 
putting  them  in  the  wrong  places,  and  then 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  69 

running  to  get  some  more,  because  they  liked 
the  fun  of  helping. 

The  good-natured  little  mother  did  not 
think  them  at  all  in  the  way :  she  only  laugh- 
ed softly  to  herself,  and  would  not  for  forty 
new  bandboxes  have  given  them  any  ear- 
boxes  for  what  they  were  doing.  No,  in- 
deed !  she  just  let  them  trot  about  as  much 
as  they  liked  with  the  pillows,  boxes,  bags, 
and  bundles,  of  which  there  seemed  to  be 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty ;  and  when  they 
were  tired  of  helping,  she  quietly  arranged 
the  things  in  their  proper  places. 

Oh !  how  soundly  the  children  slept  that 
night  with  the  "  fragrant  stillness  "  all  around 
them,  far  away  from  the  roar  and  whirl  of 
the  great  city.  The  moonlight,  sweet  and 


70  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

mournful,  flooded  the  earth,  and  a  white  ray 
stole  into  the  room  where  Charley  lay  and 
rested  lovingly  above  his  head. 

The  next  day  Charley  was  very  ill  in- 
deed. Even  the  short  journey  from  the  city 
had  overtasked  his  strength.  He  lay  in  a 
darkened  chamber,  for  his  mother  had  to 
shut  out  the  sweet  sunshine,  his  head  and 
side  were  so  racked  with  pain. 

The  children  crept  lovingly  up  to  the 
door  of  the  room  they  were  not  permitted 
to  enter  many  times  during  the  day ;  to  hope 
in  a  whisper  that  he  felt  better,  and  went 
about  the  pretty  cottage  on  tip-toe — all  their 
merriment  gone.  You  would  hardly  believe 
they  were  the  same  children  that  yesterday 
had  kept  half  the  people  in  the  steamboat 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  71 

laughing;  so  changed  and  still  were  they 
become,  through  their  love  for  their  sick 
brother. 

The  little  mother  sent  for  the  doctor. 
He  belonged  to  the  army,  and,  of  course 
dressed  like  the  officers  in  military  uniform. 

When  he  entered,  .the  children  gazed  with 
wonder  and  delight  upon  his  bright  buttons, 
each  of  which  had  an  astonishing  spread- 
eagle  engraved  upon  it,  and  thought  they 
could  never  admire  enough  the  beautiful  gold 
lace  upon  his  coat -sleeves.  Really,  he  was 
quite  a  shining  doctor. 

He  became  interested  with  Charley  at 
once :  the  sweet,  patient  smile  of  the  suffer- 
ing  boy  won  his  heart. 

"  My  dear  madam,"  said  he  to  the  little 


72  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

mother,  "  this  is  nothing  but  temporary  ex- 
haustion; with  some  strengthening  medicine 
which  I  shall  leave,  and  a  good  night's  rest, 
our  dear  little  friend  will  be  as  well  as  he  was 
before  he  came  up ;  and  I  am  in  great  hopes 
that  this  bracing  mountain  air  will  soon  make 
him  much  better  than  he  was  before  he  came." 

The  children  now  approached  the  door 
and  begged  leave  to  enter,  for  they  wanted 
to  hear  about  Charley,  and  have  a  "good 
look"  at  the  "soldier  doctor." 

""Well,  my  little  friends,"  said  he,  in  a 
hearty,  cheery  voice,  "  so  you've  come  up,  I 
suppose,  to  help  the  fairies  amuse  Charley 
this  summer." 

"  FAIEIES  ! "  exclaimed  the  children ;  "  DE- 
LIGHTFUL !  Are  there  fairies  here  ? " 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  73 

"Lots  of  them,"  answered  the  doctor, 
laughing — "  that  is,  if  I  may  believe  my  man, 
Patrick  O'Neal.  He  declares  he  has  seen 
the  fairy  rings  in  the  beautiful  hollow  at  the 
foot  of  Crow  Nest  mountain  many  and  many 
a  time." 

"  Oh  dear !  how  perfect ! "  cried  the 
children ;  "  only  fancy  the  dear  little  fairies 
dancing  on  the  parade-ground  in  the  moon- 
light." 

"  Not  exactly,"  said  the  doctor,  laughing 
again ;  "  fairies  don't  come  so  near  the  haunts 
of  mortals ;  besides,  the  cadets  want  the 
parade-ground  for  their  own  dances  and 
rings — not  fairy  rings — for  those  are  made 
with  sparkling  dew-drops,  while  the  cadets 
have  to  content  themselves  with  tallow  can- 


74  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

dies  stuck  into  scooped- out  turnips  and 
placed  in  a  circle,  and  the  lights  throwing 
the  shadows  up,  make  the  long  legs  of  the 
cadets  look  like  ever  so  many  great  goblin 
black  spiders,  hopping  harem-scarem  over 
each  other ;  but  the  cadets  call  them  '  Stag- 
dances.'  " 

"  Stag  dances"  cried  the  children,  "  who 
ever  heard  of  such  a  thing  ?  Why !  do  they 
nail  antlers  on  their  foreheads  and  go  on  all- 
fours  ?  Dear  doctor !  how  do  they  go  ? " 

"  Some  on  their  heels,  and  some  on  their 
toes ;  but  /never  saw  one  dance  on  all-fours ; 
and,  as  to  the  antlers,  without  them  they 
prance :  'tis  because  they're  all  boys,  that  it's 
called  a  *  stag  dance.' " 

"Why,   only  listen,'1  whispered  George 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  75 

to    Annie,     "  he    is    talking    poetry — how 
queer ! " 

"Isn't  he  a  nice  bright  doctor?"  said 
Minnie ;  "  he  shines  so  shiny,  and  he's  so  very 
buttony  •  I  think  his  buttons  are  splendid." 

The  doctor  heard  this  speech  and  burst  out 
laughing,  and  then  seeing  that  Minnie  looked 
abashed,  he  took  out  his  penknife,  and  in  a 
moment  had  snipt  off  one  of  the  spread-eagle 
buttons,  and  said, — "  Here,  little  lady-bird — 
here  is  a  bright  button,  which  you  can  fasten 
up  your  cloak  with  to-night  when  you  go  to 
the  fairies'  midsummer  ball ;  for,  I  suppose, 
you  will  all  have  an  invitation,  and  when  I 
come  to-morrow,  I  expect  to  hear  all  about 
it.  Good-bye,  Charley ;  old  fellows  like  you 
and  I  (Jon't  care  to  go  to  balls,  but  we  won't 


76  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

object  to  hearing  about  the  fairy  festival,  be- 
cause that  you  know  will  be  something  par- 
ticularly superfine ; "  and  he  went  away 
smiling,  leaving  the  delighted  children  chair 
tering  like  a  perfect  army  of  magpies  about 
the  fairies,  and  pretending  to  think  that  the 
good-natured  doctor  was  really  in  earnest. 


THE    FAIKIES'    LIFE. 

IT  was  Midsummer  eve;  the  moon  in 
regal  splendor  proudly  sailed  above;  the 
fair,  lovely  June  flowers  were  sleeping,  fanned 
by  the  wings  of  the  tiny  zephyrs  floating 
past.  A  spell  of  enchantment  was  upon  ev- 
ery thing,  for  a  deep  stillness  reigned  around ; 
the  little  brown  cricket  had  ceased  to  chirp ; 
the  katydid  no  longer  quarrelled  in  shrill 
tones  with  her  neighbor ;  the  wail  of  the  sad 
whippoorwill  was  hushed ;  the  rugged  sides 


78  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

of  old  Crow  Nest  were  rounded  and  softened 
in  the  silvery  moonbeams,  adown  which  the 
little  brooklet  sprang  this  night  with  a  more 
lightsome  leap  and  a  sweeter  song. 

Charley  lay  sleeping  in  his  room,  his 
cheek  resting  on  his  hand,  and  his  golden  curls 
lightly  stirred  by  the  soft  west  wind,  were 
floating  upon  the  pillow :  a  faint  flush  rested 
upon  his  sweet  face,  giving  it  a  lovely,  but, 
alas !  deceptive  hue  of  health ;  his  lips  were 
slightly  apart,  and  now  they  were  moving  as 
if  he  was  softly  and  slowly  answering  some 
question. 

The  window  was  wide  open,  and  the 
room  was  bright  with  moonbeams ;  but  now 
a  softer,  tenderer  light,  shone  through  the 
apartments ;  the  air  was  filled  with  delicious 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  79 

fragrance,  and  low  sweet  music  was  heard: 
afar  off,  a  halo  in  the  moonlight  was  seen ;  it 
came  near  and  nearer ;  now  it  was  close  to 
the  window,  and  one  could  plainly  perceive 
that  it  was  a  shining  band  of  fairies,  floating 
on  the  moonbeams  with  their  beautiful  Queen 
at  their  head. 

They  stopped  at  the  window,  for  the 
Queen,  with  a  wave  of  her  sceptre,  gave  them 
to  understand  that  she  would  enter  alone. 

She  was  radiant  to-night ;  a  magnificent 
necklace  of  many-colored  stones  cut  from  a 
rainbow,  sparkled  like  a  wreath  of  prismatic 
fire  around  her  white  and  slender  throat; 
her  wings  were  fringed  with  small  diamond 
dew-drops ;  her  robe  was  fashioned  of  the 
royal  purple  velvet  of  the  pansy ;  and  her 


80  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

crown  and  sceptre  flashed  with  precious 
gems. 

"  But,  oh  !  her  beauty  was  far  beyond 
Her  sparkling  jewels  : " 

for  the  sweet  loving  expression  that  beamed 
from  her  eyes,  and  the  smile  that  played 
about  the  corners  of  her  beautiful  mouth, 
mirrored  the  pure,  unselfish,  spotless  nature 
of  the  Queen. 

Softly  she  floated  towards  the  couch,  and 
gently  touched  the  boy  with  her  sceptre. 

Charley  opened  his  blue  eyes.  In  a  sweet 
amaze  he  slowly  raised  himself  and  leaned 
upon  his  arm,  gazing  in  bewildered  delight 
upon  the  radiant  stranger.  The  little  mother 
still  slept  on ;  but  in  the  room  was  a  young 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  81 

kitten — a  daughter  of  Crocus,  of  whom  you 
read  in  "  New  Nightcaps,"  and  whom  Char- 
ley so  loved,  that  he  brought  her  away  with 
him.  She  was  lying  at  the  foot  of  his  bed ;  in 
a  moment  she  bristled  up  her  coat  and  tail, 
and  darted  out  her  sharp  claws  in  terror  at 
the  sight ;  but  at  a  touch  of  the  Queen's 
sceptre  she  drew  them  into  their  velvety 
sheath  again,  and  laid  quietly  down. 

"  Dear  Charley,"  said  the  Queen  in  a  low, 
sweet  voice,  "  we  do  so  love  your  innocent  and 
guileless  nature,  that  while  the  pulses  beat, 
and  the  blood  flows  in  your  frail  and  fading 
form,  we  will  do  our  utmost  to  drive  the 
demon  of  pain  far  away ;  tender  and  beau- 
tiful influences  shall  surround  you ;  you  shall 
be  a  most  favored  mortal,  for  you  shall  be- 

6 


82  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

hold  the  happiest  scenes  in  fairy  life;  you 
shall  dream  the  sweetest  dreams  of  fairy- 
land ;  this  night  is  our  great  midsummer  fes- 
tival ;  even  now  our  subjects  are  hastening  to 
the  beautiful  hollow,  where  the  fairy  revels 
are  kept.  Hark  to  the  fairy  call !  they  are 
inviting  the  fays  from  the  beautiful  green 
island  that  is  sleeping  in  the  moonlight  op- 
posite to  us." 

Charley  with  all  his  senses  quickened, 
his  lips  slightly  apart,  his  eyes  dilated,  one 
hand  raised  in  an  attitude  of  intense  listen- 
ing, caught  the  delicious  harmony  of  fairy 
voices  singing  these  words : 

"  Hasten  fairies — haste  away ; 
Hasten  through  the  golden  spray; 
Hasten  to  the  frolic  play.  • 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  83 

"  Fly  o'er  water — fly  o'er  vale ; 
Ply  the  oar,  and  spread  Ae  sail ; 
Hie  ye  to  the  moon-lit  dale. 

"  Silver  sweet  the  music  swells 
Of  the  snow-white  lily-bells, 
And  the  sounding  pink  sea-shells. 

"  Hither — hither,  haste  away 
To  the  fairies'  frolic  play ; 
'Tis  the  festive  fairy-day." 

Brighter  grew  the  eyes  of  the  sick  boy, 
and  his  cheek  flushed  with  excitement  as  he 
listened. 

"  Oh,  how  beautiful ! "  he  murmured ; 
"  what  dainty  little  rippling  notes ! " 

"  Listen  again,"  said  the  Queen,  with  a 
gratified  smile,  for  she  liked  to  hear  her  peo- 


84  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

pie  praised;  "listen!  the  island  fairies  are 
answering." 

Was  it  magic  that  brought  those  tiny 
voices  so  far  over  the  water  ?  Surely  it  was, 
for  there  rose  on  the  air  a  clear  tinkling 
sound  like  the  ringing  of  little  glass  bells ; 
and  Charley  heard  these  words : 

"  Beaming  moon — shimmering  fountain — 

Light,  and  deck  the  fairy  dell ; 
We  are  coming  to  the  mountain, 

From  the  isle  we  love  so  well : 
To  the  fairy  ball  we  hie ; 
Thought-swift  through  the  purple  sky 
We  are  hastening  at  the  call ; 
'Tis  the  great  midsummer  ball. 

"  Open  lily — blossom  rose, 

Shed  around  thy  perfume  light ; 
Heliotrope — thy  sweets  disclose 
To  the  fragrant  dews  of  night. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  85 

Dogwood  grim  we  fairies  banish ; 
Purple  nightshade  !  fly !  evanish ! 
We  are  hastening  at  the  call ; 
'Tis  the  great  midsummer  balL 

"  Chime  hare-bells  !  clearly,  sweetly, 
Joy  our  hearts  with  blithe  accord, 

As  we  fairies  neatly,  featly, 

Trip  it  o'er  the  dainty  sward. 

Velvet  sod  thy  carpet  spread, 

With  small  buds  enamelled, 

We  are  hastening  at  the  call ; 

'Tis  the  great  midsummer  ball. 

"  Oil ! "  exclaimed  the  entranced  boy, 
"  how  I  should  like  to  see  the  beautiful  fairies 
dancing  in  the  moonlight.  May  I,  sweet 
lady?" 

With  a  loving  smile  the  Queen  bent  over 


86  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

and  lightly  tapped  Mm  thrice  upon  each 
shoulder-blade  with  her  jewelled  sceptre. 
Immediately  a  pair  of  gauzy  wings  started 
from  his  back.  With  an  involuntary  motion 
he  gently  waved  them  back  and  forth,  and 
felt  himself  rising — rising — EISING — till  he 
had  floated  out  of  the  window  into  the  moon- 
beams. The  poor  little  kitten  set  up  a 
piteous  cry,  but  a  fairy  spell  was  upon  the 
mother,  for  she  slept  quietly  on. 

Oh !  with  what  delight  was  the  enchant- 
ed boy  now  welcomed  by  the  waiting  train 
outside !  They  pressed  lovingly  around  him ; 
they  played  with  his  golden  curls;  they 
fanned  him  with  their  delicai^  wings ;  they 
looked  down  into  the  lambent  depths  of  his 
clear  blue  eyes,  and  saw  his  pure  spirit  within 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  82 

so  free  from  guile ;  they  touched  with  their 
tender  fingers  his  poor  little  thin  white  neck 
and  breast,  and  felt  his  heart  beating  fast 
and  faster  with  delight. 

Up,  up  they  mounted,  and  a  joyous 
thrill,  like  a  sweet  and  sudden  wind,  shook 
the  leaves  of  the  trees  as  they  passed  swiftly 
by  them. 

And  now  they  approached  the  beautiful 
hollow ;  they  heard  the  stirring  sound  of  the 
fairy  kettle-drums  (which  you  know  are 
chestnut  shells,  divided  in  half,  with  mouse- 
skin  drawn  tightly  over).  Quickly  they 
floated  over  the  last  tree-tops;  the  frisky 
young  fairies  folding  their  wings  and  sliding 
down  the  moonbeams  for  fun,  just  as  you 
slide  down  the  bannisters. 


#0  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

They  are  there,  directly  over  the  beauti- 
ful hollow,  floating  slowly  downward  with 
a  graceful  waving  motion;  and  Charley 
looked  on  a  most  enchanting  sight.  Crowds 
of  fairies  were  assembled  within  an  immense 
circle  of  sparkling  dew-drops,  tricked  out  in 
all  their  holiday  attire.  More  were  coming 
in  on  every  side ;  some  in  their  nut-shells  and 
four — others  flying  through  the  soft  air.  In 
the  centre  of  the  hollow  the  mossy  throne 
was  this  night  surmounted  by  a  magnificent 
canopy  of  scarlet  geraniums,  looped  up  at  the 
sides  by  splendid  clasps,  formed  of  the  backs 
of  the  scarlet  lady-bug,  dotted  with  spots  of 
jet.  The  canopy  was  heavily  fringed  with 
small  scarlet  fuchsias,  or  lady's  ear-drops. 
At  the  foot  of  the  throne  there  appeared  to 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  89 • 

be  a  low  seat  of  heaped-up  rose-leaves,  and 
in  a  circle  round  it  a  double  row  of  glow- 
worms shed  a  soft  clear  light.  Small  mush- 
room tables,  filled  with  plates  of  dew-drop 
ices,  were  already  laid  out ;  and  the  fairies 
only  waited  for  the  presence  of  their  beloved 
Queen  to  open  the  ball. 

Suddenly  the  music  quickened ;  the  fire- 
flies sparkled  and  danced,  and  all  rose  re- 
spectfully as  the  Queen  touched  the  green 
velvety  floor.  Bowing  and  smiling,  she 
gracefully  seated  herself  upon  the  throne, 
and  tenderly  placed  the  spell-bound  Charley 
upon  the  rose-leaf  couch  at  her  feet.  The 
rich  color  of  the  beautiful  canopy  threw  a 
rosy  blush  over  the  boy's  sweet  face ;  and 
the  glancing  fairies  thought  they  had  never 


90  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

seen  a  lovelier  mortal.  Although  the  soft 
rose-leaves  pressed  .caressingly  around  him 
and  hid  his  poor  deformed  limbs,  it  would 
have  made  no  difference  if  they  had  been 
plainly  seen,  for  the  fairies  only  looked  in 
hisjfotftf,  where  so  much  purity  and  goodness 
shone ;  and,  seeing  this,  they  loved  him,  and 
were  glad  he  had  come. 

u  Where  is  Slyboots  ? "  said  the  Queen. 

"  At  your  feet,  most  gracious  Majesty," 
answered  the  sprite,  dropping  down  all  at 
once  from  somewhere. 

"  And  what  is  the  last  piece  of  mischief, 
you  comical  imp  ?  " 

"  Your  Majesty  !  Mischief!  I  disapprove 
of  it !  but  I  have  just  been  tying  Peas-cod 
and  Bean-pod  together  by  their  long  green 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  91 

coat-tails,  Because  they  are  such  grumbling, 
discontented  chaps." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  asked  the  Queen. 

"Please  your  Majesty,"  answered  Sly- 
boots, "  I  heard  Peas-cod  say  that  he  hated 
the  sight  of  every  thing  and  everybody ;  that 
all  other  fairies  could  wear  different  colors, 
while  he  had  to  be  green  all  his  days ;  then 
he  opened  his  mouth  so  wide,  and  gave  such 
a  fearful  yawn,  I  thought  all  his  round  bones 
would  roll  out ;  /think,  your  Majesty,  he  is 
not  only  green — he  is  ijoUy'>  green." 

"  Don't  talk  slang  to  me,"  said  the  Queen, 
though  she  laughed  a  little  ;  "  but  go  on 
and  tell  me  about  Bean-pod." 

"  Oh  !  Bean-pod  is  miserable  because  of 
his  shape;  he  says  he  is  bigger  round  his 


92  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

waist  than  anywhere  else,  and  that  is  so  un- 
genteel ;  all  your  Majesty's  maids  of  honor 
laugh  and  make  faces  at  him." 

"  Ah !  I  cannot  have  that,"  said  the 
Queen ;  "  all  must  be  happy  here,  especially 
on  midsummer  night.  Go,  Slyboots,  and 
command  them  to  come  into  my  presence." 

Off  started  the  sprite,  and  presently  re- 
turned with  the  naughty  fairies  looking  very 
much  ashamed  of  themselves,  with  their  coat- 
tails  all  curled  round  from  having  been  tied 
in  a  hard  knot.  Lilliebelle  and  Dewdrop 
laughed  behind  their  butterfly  wing-fans, 
while  Ripple  and  Firefly  curled  their  mus- 
taches, and  looked  on  with  dandified  airs. 

The  Queen  began  with  a  severe  aspect: 
u  I  regret  to  learn,  Peas-cod  and  Bean-pod, 


THE    FAIRIES7    LIFE.  93 

that  you  are  indulging  in  discontent;  it  is 
very  wicked  in  any  one  to  murmur  or  re- 
pine at  his  lot  in  this  world.  Learn  from  this 
mortal,"  she  continued,  placing  her  hand 
tenderly  on  Charley's  head;  "almost  since 
his  "birth  he  has  led  a  life  of  suffering,  yet  no 
repining  falls  from  his  patient  lips;  he  is 
willing  to  live,  and  he  will  be  resigned  to 
die.  I  think  my  story-teller,  Charm-ear,  has 
written  down  something  that  happened  to 
some  neighbors  of  ours  in  the  little  brook 
near  by,  which  will  serve  as  a  warning  to 
you.  Would  you  like  to  hear  this  story, 
Charley?" 

"  Oh,  beautiful  lady ! "  cried  Charley;  for, 
being  an  American  boy,  he  did  not  know  he 
must  say  'your  Majesty.'  "Oh,  beautiful 


94  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

lady  !     a    story    would    be    so — so   fairy 
nice ! " 

The  Queen  smiled,  and,  waving  her  hand 
to  Charm-ear,  the  court  story-teller,  he  be- 
gan as  follows : 

THE  THREE  LITTLE  FISH. 

"Not  very  long  ago,  in  our  beautiful 
brook,  there  lived  three  little  silver  trouts, 
who  were  very  great  friends.  For  some 
time  they  were  happier  than  the  day  was 
long,  playing  together,  eating  together,  and 
sleeping  cosily  together  in  the  same  little 
cave  scooped  out  of  a  stone  under  the  water, 
and  wanted  for  nothing  that  good  little  fishes 
ought  to  have. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  95 

"  But  after  this  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  tell 
that  two  of  the  little  trout  became  very  sad 
and  discontented :  one  wished  for  this,  the 
other  for  that,  and  neither  cared  a  shrimp 
for  any  thing  he  had,  because  they  were  al- 
ways foolishly  sighing  for  something  else. 

"  At  last  Neptune,  the  King  of  the  Sea, 
heard  of  these  naughty  little  fish,  and  he  re- 
solved to  punish  them,  by  granting  them  all 
"their  desires. 

"  Accordingly  he  called  them  before  him, 
and  told  them  they  should  have  whatever 
they  wanted. 

"  Now,  the  oldest  was  a  very  proud  little 
fish,  and  wanted  to  be  able  to  snub  up  all  the 
other  fishes,  by  being  set  above  them — so  he 
said, 


96  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

"'Please  your  gracious  goodness  Majesty, 
I  do  not  like  the  place  where  you  have  put 
me.  Here  I  am  poked  into  a  mean,  nar- 
row river,  where  I  can  neither  get  down  into 
the  ground,  or  up  into  the  air,  and  yet  I  can 
see  well  enough  what  fine  times  others 
have;  there  are  the  little  birds  that  fly 
about  over  my  head,  and  sing  all  day,  be- 
cause they  have  wings.  Give  me  wings, 
gracious  goodness  Majesty — only  give  me 
wings,  and  then  I  shall  have  something  for 
which  to  be  thankful ;  in  fact,  it  will  make 
me  perfectly  happy.' 

"  No  sooner  asked  for  than  granted.  In 
a  moment  the  little  fish  felt  the  wings  flut- 
tering, and  in  another  moment  he  had  spread 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  97 

them  wide,  and  rose  joyfully   out  of  the 
water. 

"  Ah !  what  a  delicious  sensation.  He 
resolved  to  travel;  then  a  thought  struck 
him. 

"'One  favor  more,  your  gracious  Maj- 
esty.' 

"  '  Well,  speak,'  answered  Neptune. 

" '  Give  me  a  wife,  so  that  I  may  not  fly 
alone  in  the  world/ 

" '  Granted,'  said  the  Sea  King ;  and  im- 
mediately a  beautiful  little  silver  trout  swam 
the  surface,  and  then  flew  to  his  side. 

"  With  joy  the  silver  fish  greeted  his  mate, 
and  forthwith  they  fluttered  into  a  tree  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River,  and  com- 
menced building  a  nest. 
T 


98  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

"  In  the  due  course  of  time  a  brood  of  lit- 
tle flying  fish,  were  peeping  up  in  the  nest, 
and  the  papa  and  mamma  had  their  hands 
full  (so  to  speak)  in  finding  food  for  their 
young  ;  they  were  very  happy,  and  thought 
this  was  the  perfection  of  living,  and  heartily 
despised  their  old  companions  in  the  beauti- 
ful brook. 

"  But,  alas  !  in  this  world  it  is  very  often 
the  case  that  just  as  we  have  attained  our 
wishes,  and  are  perfectly  happy — bang!  it 
is  all  over.  This  was  literally  the  case  with 
our  poor  little  trout,  for  a  party  of  sports- 
men crossing  the  river  in  a  row-boat  seeing 
such  a  queer  bird,  one  of  them  deliberately 
took  aim  and  shot  the  mother  trout,  just  as 
she  was  returning  with  food  for  her  chil- 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  99 

dren ;  and  the  poor  papa,  who  had  been  keep- 
ing watch  on  the  nest,  in  the  extremity  of  his 
terror,  opened  his  mouth,  and  popped  out  his 
eyes,  and  took  to  flight,  and  left  his  family  to 
be  captured  by  the  wicked  sportsmen. 

"  But  our  little  flying  fish  happened  to 
alight  among  desert-like  sands  and  rocks — far, 
far  away  from  the  least  thing  to  eat  or  drink. 
Faint,  weary,  and  unable  to  rise  again,  he 
lay  fluttering,  panting,  and  beating  himself 
against  the  flinty  stones.  Oh !  how  he 
longed  for  one  drop  of  crystal  water  out  of 
his  own  little  brook — only  one  drop. 

"  Gasping,  wounded,  and  sore,  he  lay 
there,  wretched  and  all  alone,  till  at  length, 
with  a  sob  and  a  sigh,  he  breathed  his  last. 
He  was  dead. 


100  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

"  The  second  little  silver  trout  was  not  so 
high-minded  as  the  first ;  still  he  was  dread- 
fully conceited,  and  moreover,  he  was  a  nar- 
row-hearted, selfish  little  fish ;  for,  provided 
Tie  was  safe  and  happy,  he  did  not  care  the 
flap  of  a  fin,  what  became  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  fishes  in  the  whole  universe,  or  anywhere 
else. 

*' £  So,'  said  he  to  Neptune,  '  may  it  please 
your  worshipful  honor ;  I  do  not  wish  for 
wings  to  fly,  for  I  do  not  care  to  poke  my 
nose  into  strange  places ;  I  might  get  lost  or 
hurt,  you  know ;  I  was  contented  enough 
until  the  other  day,  when  I  saw  a  great  rope 
come  down  into  the  water,  and  fasten  itself 
in  some  mysterious  way  about  the  gills  of  a 
sweet  little  cousin  of  mine,  and  she  was 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  101 

hauled  and  dragged  out  of  the  water  before 
my  eyes,  wriggling  and  struggling  witli  fright 
and  pain.  It  scared  me  terribly,  your  wor- 
shipful honor ;  for  I  thought  this  dreadful 
rope  might  some  time  fasten  upon  me.  Now, 
all  I  desire,  is  to  know  the  meaning  of  this 
rope,  and  of  every  single  one  of  the  dangers 
to  which  you  have  subjected  us  poor  little 
fishes/ 

"No  sooner  said  than  done.  Neptune 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  little  trout  in  such  a 
marvellous  manner,  that  he  understood  in  a 
moment  all  about  snares,  nets,  hooks,  and  the 
lines,  which  he  called  a  rope,  artificial  flies, 
and  every  other  danger  to  which  little  fishes 
are  exposed. 

"  At  first  he  was  perfectly  delighted  with 


102  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

his  newly-acquired  knowledge,  and  he  took 
precious  good  care  from  this  time  forth,  not 
to  go  into  deep  water,  for  fear  a  great  greedy 
pike  or  some  other  great  fish  might  be  there 
and  swallow  him  up  at  a  mouthful.  He  kept 
away  from  the  shallow  places  in  hot  weather, 
lest  the  sun  should  dry  them  up.  When  he 
saw  a  shadow  on  the  water,  he  said  to  him- 
self, *  Halloo !  here  are  the  good-for-nothing 
fishermen  with  their  nets ! '  and  immediately 
he  sculled  away  and  got  under  the  banks, 
where  he  sat  trembling  in  all  his  scales  ;  and 
when  he  saw  a  tempting  fly  skimming  on 
the  water,  or  a  nice  fat  worm,  he  did  not 
dare  to  bite,  although  he  was  half-starved. 
1  No,  no,'  said  the  little  trout,  'I  am  not 
such  a  fool  as  all  that  comes  to ;  go  and 


THE   FAIRIES'   LIFE.  103 

tempt  those  flats,  the  flounders;  I  know 
better.' 

"  In  this  way  the  poor  little  silver  trout 
kept  himself  in  a  continual  fright  and  flurry ; 
and,  of  course,  could  neither  eat,  drink,  nor 
sleep,  for  fear  some  mischief  might  be  at 
hand. 

"  He  grew  poorer  and  poorer,  and  sighed 
and  frightened  himself  to  skin  and  bone,  un- 
til at  last — ah  me ! — dear  me ! — alas !  he  died, 
for  fear  of  dying. 

"  Now  when  Neptune  came  to  the  young- 
est trout,  and  asked  him  what  he  wished 
for,  he  said :  '  Oh,  your  great  big  Highness, 
you  know  I  am  but  a  very  foolish  and  good- 
for-nothing  little  fish ;  I  don't  know  what  is 
good  for  me  and  what  is  bad  for  me ;  and  I 


104  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

wonder  how  I  came  to  be  thought  worth 
bringing  into  the  world  at  all.  But  if  I 
must  wish  for  any  thing,  it  is  that  you  will 
please  to  do  whatever  you  think  best;  I 
shall  be  happy  to  live  or  die,  just  as  you 
would  have  me.' 

"When  the  precious  little  silver  trout 
had  said  all  this  so  sweetly  and  modestly, 
Neptune  immediately  felt  an  immense  liking 
for  him,  and  determined  to  take  great  care 
of  this  sweet  little  fish  who  had  such  entire 
trust  in  his  goodness ;  so  he  watched  tenderly 
over  him,  and  was  a  father  and  a  friend  to 
him.  He  put  a  perfect  fountain  of  content- 
ment into  his  gills,  and,  consequently,  happi- 
ness into  his  heart. 

"  Thus,  this  dear  little  trout  slept  always 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  105 

in  peace,  and  wakened  in  gladness;  and 
whether  he  was  full  or  hungry,  or  whatever 
happened  to  him,  he  was  still  pleased  and 
thankful ;  and  he  is  now  the  happiest  of  all 
the  little  fishes  that  swim  in  our  beautiful 
brook." 

A  delighted  murmur  of  applause  rose  on 
every  side  as  Charm-ear  finished  this  excel- 
lent story ;  and  Charley  was,  if  possible,  still 
more  enchanted  to  find  such  a  capital  moral 
in  a  story  told  by  a  fairy.  Peas-cod  and 
Bean-pod  looked  very  uncomfortable  as  the 
Queen  said,  "Thank  you,  Charm-ear;  you 
have  related  the  story  well ;  and  I  hope,"  she 
continued,  looking  kindly  at  the  discontent- 
ed fays,  "  it  will  have  a  profitable  effect.  It 


106  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

is  no  doubt  a  great  blessing  to  possess  what 
one  wishes ;  but  it  is  a  greater  blessing  still, 
not  to  desire  that  which  we  can  never  pos- 


sess." 


Then  the  Queen,  who  ruled  altogether  by 
LOVE,  said:  "Go,  dear  Peas-cod  and  Bean- 
pod — go  join  the  dances ;  I  give  you  Lillie- 
belle  and  Dewdrop  for  partners,  and  let  me 
hear  no  more  of  discontent." 

The  two  green  fairies  brightened  up 
amazingly  when  they  heard  their  Queen 
speaking  so  kindly ;  really,  their  green  coats 
became  quite  fashionable-looking — and  not 
such  a  bad  color  either ;  and  though  Lillie- 
belle  and  Dewdrop  pouted  a  little  at  their 
humble  partners,  they  dared  not  disobey  the 
Queen;  but  soon  the  inspiring  music  and 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  107 

the  pleasure  of  dancing,  of  which,  like  all 
fairies  and  most  young  ladies,  they  were  im- 
moderately fond,  caused  them  to  forget  their 
annoyance,  especially  as  Peas-cod  and  Bean- 
pod  were  accomplished  dancers,  and  hopped 
about  in  the  most  surprising  manner. 

And  Charley  looked  on  in  an  ecstasy  of 
delight,  and  the  flush  deepened  and  bright- 
ened in  his  cheek.  It  seemed  as  if  a  million 
of  tiny  flowers  of  every  color  had  been  taken 
from  their  stems  and  had  gone  on  a  pic-nic, 
and  were  now  at  the  very  height  of  their  fun. 
Such  laughing!  such  dancing!  such  eager 
rushing  for  the  ices  and  other  goodies,  just 
as  you  do  at  your  parties.  In  one  corner  a 
small  party  of  extremely  fashionable  belles 
were  promenading,  each  holding  a  parasol 


108  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

over  her  head  made  of  a  small  green  leaf,  to 
preserve  her  complexion ;  for  you  must  know 
that  moonbeams  are  very  tanning.  Among 
the  honeysuckles,  the  elderly  fairies  were 
playing  backgammon,  talking,  and  pretend- 
ing to  admire  each  others'  dresses,  thinking 
their  own  handsomer  all  the  time ;  while  the 
bachelor  fairies  were  smoking  poppy  leaf 
cigars,  and  ordering  any  quantity  of  butter- 
cups of  Maydew. 

All  at  once  a  tremendous  shout  of  laugh- 
ter was  heard,  and  Charley  and  the  Queen 
looking  eagerly  in  the  direction  whence  it 
came,  saw,  to  their  unspeakable  astonish- 
ment, the  old  prime  minister  turning  a 
somerset  in  the  air.  He  got  up,  walked  a 
few  steps,  and  went  head-over-heels  again ; 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  109 

while  the  fairies,  ready  for  any  fun,  thought 
he  had  become  crack-brained  and  was  doing 
it  on  purpose,  and  screamed  with  laugh- 
ter. 

But,  bless  your  little  heart !  what  a  mis- 
take they  made  !  Rising  from  his  last  leap 
in  the  air,  with  a  scowl  on  his  face,  breathing 
forth  fire  and  fury  like  a  hippogriff  or  a  fiery 
dragon,  he  pushed  his  way  through  the  crowd 
and  marched  straight  to  the  throne,  where, 
kneeling  as  well  as  he  could  for  his  bumps 
and  bruises,  he  demanded  of  the  Queen  in  a 
shrill,  gasping,  wheezing  voice,  like  the  wind 
whistling  through  a  broken  bellows : 

"Your  Majesty ! !  your  Majesty ! ! !  that 
wretch!  that  Slyboots!  confine  him  in  a 
nut-shell  for  a  thousand  years !  tie  him  fast  to 


110  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

a  hornet !  cut  off  his  wings  I  oh !  oh !  oh  ! 
the  impertinent  little  scamp ! " 

"  Why,  my  lord,  calm  yourself,"  said  the 
Queen ;  while  Charley  looked  on  in  bewil- 
dered astonishment  at  the  enraged  prime 
minister,  and  a  great  crowd  of  fairies  gather- 
ed around. 

"Tell  me  what  has  happened." 
"I  need  not  remind  your  Majesty  that 
our  state  affairs  are  very  much  behindhand, 
and  not  feeling  inclined  to  mix  with  cox- 
combs like  Ripple,  (here  the  Queen  frowned, 
and  Ripple,  who  was  just  behind  him,  made 
a  grimace,)  I  went  to  one  of  the  mushroom 
tables,  and  sat  down  to  finish  my  memorial 
regarding  the  loan  for  the  hospital  for  sick 
bumble-bees,  when  this  torment  of  a  Sly- 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  Ill 

boots  comes  up,  and  looking  over  my  shoulder, 
exclaims,  4  What !  my  lord ;  surely  you  are 
not  going  to  stupefy  the  Queen  with  the  odi- 
ous sick  bumble-bee  memorial  to-night,  are 
you?  Say?'" 

" '  Certainly  I  am,'  I  said ;  '  what  would 
become  of  all  the  business  in  the  Queen's 
dominions  if  it  were  not  for  me  ?  Go  away, 
you  ugly  Ouphe ! '  At  this,  Slyboots  rushed 
off  in  such  a  haste,  and  with  such  a  wicked 
gleam  in  his  eye,  that  I  smelt  mischief  imme- 
diately. '  After  finishing  my  memorial  on 
eleven  bees-wings  closely  written,  I  was  hast- 
ening with  it  to  your  Majesty,  when  I  fell, 
with  great  violence,  over  three  successive 
ropes  that  were  stretched  across  the  section 
of  the  hollow  where  I  had  been  writing, 


112  FAIEY    NIGHTCAPS. 

crumpling  and  soiling  my  memorial,  and 
breaking  off  a  corner  of  my  right  wing.  I 
know  it  is  Slyboots  that  has  committed  this 
outrage.  Drive  him  out  of  your  kingdom, 
your  Majesty!  give  him  up  to  the  water  fai- 
ries !  tell  the  snails  to  poke  him  well  with  their 
horns ! '  and  in  a  very  torrent  of  passion  and 
anger,  the  prime  minister  was  going  on, 
when  the  Queen  interrupted  him  with — 
'Softly,  softly,  my  lord;  we  will  call  Sly- 
boots and  hear  what  he  says.'" 

And  now  there  was  a  great  call  for  the 
culprit ;  and  presently  he  came  in  the  ring, 
riding  on  a  comical-looking  bull-frog,  and 
making  tremendous  leaps,  apparently  in 
great  haste,  as  if  he  had  been  on  a  long  jour- 
ney, and  had  just  that  moment  arrived.  With 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  113 

an  inconceivably  roguish  air,  he  alighted, 
and  hastening  up,  bent  his  knee  before  the 
Queen.  The  foolish  young  fairies  came  very 
near  bursting  out  laughing  when  they  saw 
him  put  on  a  demure,  innocent  look  of  sur- 
prise, as  he  caught  sight  of  the  scowling  face 
of  the  prime  minister ;  but  at  that  moment 
her  Majesty  said  in  an  angry  tone : 

"  What  shocking  mischief  have  you  been 
doing?" 

"  I  have  been  doing  nothing,  your  Maj- 
esty." 

"  And  who  helped  you  to  do  it,  you  saucy 
goblin?" 

"  Only  a  little  brown  spider,"  said  Sly- 
boots, "  and  he  didn't  mean  to." 

"  But  between  you  two,  the  prime  minis- 

r  s 


114  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

ter  has  had  three  heavy  falls;  and  I  am 
afraid  not  without  intention  on  your 
part." 

"Please  your  Majesty,  if  my  lord,  the 
prime  minister,  loads  himself  with  such  a 
heavy  article  as  that  sick  humble-cum-tum- 
ble-bee  memorial,  and  then  puts  his  eyes  in 
his  pockets,  no  wonder  he  can't  see  straight 
before  him,  and  falls  down  and  cracks  his 
crown.  Why  don't  he  be  jolly,  like  the  rest 
of  us?  Your  Majesty  had  better  order  an 
unlimited  quantity  of  dandelion  feather-beds 
to  be  put  around  in  spots  for  my  lord,  the 
prime  minister,  to  turn  head  over  heels  in." 

"  Hush  !  sauce-box,"  cried  the  Queen ; 
while  the  prime  minister  gave  him  a  furious 
look.  "  Here,  Trip  (turning  to  a  page),  go 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  115 

* 
bring  me  the  little  brown  spider;  I  must 

get  at  the  bottom  of  this  business.77 

The  little  brown  spider  came  and  made 
her  obeisance,  all  in  a  fuzz  of  fear,  for  she 
could  not  imagine  why  she  was  called  into 
the  presence  of  the  Queen.  She  shook  so 
violently,  that  her  Majesty  said,  kindly: 

"  Don't  be  afraid,  Brownie ;  but  tell  me, 
with  perfect  truth,  what  did  Slyboots  em- 
ploy you  about  this  evening  ? " 

"  Please  your  beautiful  Majesty,"  began 
the  spider,  "  Slyboots  is  my  friend,  and  I 
would  not  like  to  get  him  into  trouble." 

"  That  is  neither  here  nor  there,"  said  the 
Queen;  "I  command  you  to  tell  me  what 
you  did  for  him." 

"  Well,"  said  the  spider,  almost  crying, 


116  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

"  Slyboots  came  to  my  "house  in  the  grape- 
vine in  the  greatest  hurry,  and  begged  me  to 
scrabble  and  scratch  with  all  my  might  and 
main  to  a  certain  part  of  the  hollow,  and 
spin  three  ropes,  knee  high,  just  as  quickly 
as  possible  across  it,  as  some  of  the  court- had 
taken  a  prodigious  fancy  to  tight-rope  danc- 
ing, and  meant  to  give  an  exhibition  before 
the  evening  was  over ;  and  he  was  to  give 
me,  for  doing  it,  just  the  fattest  little  fly  I 
ever  beheld,  which  he  had  fast  by  the  legs ; 
it  made  my  mouth  water  only  to  look  at  it ; 
so,  your  Majesty  may  believe,  I  rushed  down 
and  worked  at  the  ropes  for  dear  life,  and 
finished  them  to  Slyboots'  satisfaction,  for  he 
gave  me  the  delicious  fly,  and  I've  just  finish- 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  117 

ed  eating  it  up ;  and  that  is  all  I  know  about 
it,  please  your  beautiful  Majesty." 

It  was  all  as  plain  as  moonlight;  and 
after  one  moment  passed  in  vainly  endeavor- 
ing to  suppress  their  merriment,  the  whole 
court  burst  into  such  a  scream  of  laughter, 
that  the  very  leaves  rustled,  as  if  some  mu- 
sical wind  had  stirred  them.  Of  course  not 
a  fairy  had  ever  heard  that  anybody  had 
taken  up  the  profession  of  tight-rope  dancing, 
and  Slyboots  was  at  once  convicted  of  having 
told  a  dreadful  fib,  and  had  the  ropes  erected 
for  the  express  purpose  of  tripping  up  the 
prime  minister,  to  prevent  his  boring  the 
Queen  on  the  great  gala  night  with  his  sick 
bumble-bee  memorial. 

There  the  naughty  sprite  stood  with  a 


118  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

penitent  look  out  of  one  eye,  and  winking 
ridiculously  with  the  other  ;  and  the  fairies 
having  laughed  till  they  were  tired,  now 
waited  in  breathless  silence  to  hear  his  sen- 
tence pronounced. 

Charley  was  really  sorry  for  Slyboots; 
he  was  distressed  that  the  fairy  had  told  a 
falsehood ;  but,  as  to  the  mischief,  it  was  so 
like  the  capers  his  own  brothers  and  sisters 
were  always  cutting,  that  he  felt  very  certain 
the  comical  little  imp  had  not  one  grain  of 
malice  in  his  heart,  so  he  softly  touched  the 
Queen's  knee,  and  as  she  kindly  bent  down 
to  him,  whispered — "  Oh,  beautiful  lady !  he 
has  a  good  heart,  and  he  is  very  sorry; 
please  to  forgive  him." 

"  Slyboots,"  began  the  Queen,  in  a  tone 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  119 

which  she  tried  to  make  very  severe,  "  you 
have  passed  all  reasonable  bounds  in  this  last 
prank ;  you  have  outraged  and  insulted  my 
faithful  servant — and,  worse  than  all,  you 
have  told  an  untruth.  If  it  had  not  been  for 
this  last,  I  might  have  forgiven  you  after  you 
had  made  fitting  apologies  to  the  prime  min- 
ister ;  even  now  I  shall  lighten  your  punish- 
ment, because  this  pure  and  lovely  mortal 
has  interceded  for  you.  Listen  to  your  sen- 
tence. My  power  tells  me  that  the  great 
wasp,  Spiteful,  has  just  entered  the  chamber 
where  little  Minnie,  Charley's  sister,  is  lying 
peacefully  asleep,  and  within  the  hour  he  will 
thrust  his  poisonous  cruel  sting  into  the  ten- 
der arm  of  the  little  child.  With  your 
wings  to  dart  here  and  there,  you  might 


120  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

easily  conquer  Mm ;  but  these  must  be  fast- 
ened together  by  your  friend  Brownie,  and 
within  the  hour  you  must  bring  me  the 
dead  body  of  the  wasp.  You  have  heard ; 
Brownie,  to  your  work ! " 

In  the  midst  of  a  deep  silence,  the  poor 
little  trembling  spider  began  to  spin  thread 
after  thread  round  and  round  the  beautiful 
gauzy  wings  of  the  disgraced  and  now  sor- 
rowful fay ;  one  after  the  other  the  beautiful 
tints  of  blue,  and  gold,  and  purple,  first 
faded,  then  were  hidden  under  the  misty 
cloud-color  of  network. 

The  court  looked  on  in  sorrow,  for  the 
elfin  was  beloved  by  many,  but  not  a  fay 
dared  murmur  or  question  the  justice  of  the 
sentence. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  121 

At  last  his  wings,  of  a  dead  dull  gray, 
were  prisoned  fast ;  and  the  Queen,  waving 
her  sceptre,  said — "  Go,  Slyboots ;  if  you 
carry  a  right  spirit  to  your  work,  you  will 
win  the  fight." 

The  fairy  said  not  a  word,  but  bowed 
him  low,  and  turned  sadly  away.  The  time 
was  short,  and  he  must  hasten  and  don  his 
stoutest  armor,  for  the  foe  was  deadly.  A 
friendly  grasshopper  offered  to  take  him  to 
the  foot  of  the  window  where  he  must  enter. 
"With  a  gleeful  spring  he  mounted,  and  away 
with  great  leaps  they  went  through  the  ferns 
and  over  the  grass,  scrambling  painfully  in 
and  out  of  bramble  bushes,  and  pricking 
themselves  with  the  sharp  nettles  that  lay 
in  their  path.  But  the  grasshopper  (that 


122  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

friend  in  need)  carried  him  bravely  through 
them  all,  and  came  at  last  to  a  little  house 
under  a  great  mushroom,  where  Slyboots 
kept  bachelor's  hall. 

Here  he  alighted,  and  hastily  fastened  on 
his  acorn  helmet,  with  its  beautiful  plume 
from  the  humming  bird's  breast;  then  he 
donned  his  close-fitting  vest,  made  of  the 
skin  of  the  prickly-pear — the  sharp  points 
bristling  terror  to  invaders.  On  his  left  arm 
he  carried  his  trusty  shield,  made  of  the  back 
of  the  golden  beetle,  and  his  right  hand 
grasped  his  sharp  blade,  fashioned  out  of  the 
blue  sword-grass. 

Swiftly  he  bestrode  his  grasshopper  steed 
again,  and  in  a  few  moments  they  were  be- 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  123 

neath  the  open  window  of  the  room  where 
lay  the  sleeping  child. 

Alighting,  and  thanking  his  friendly 
courser,  Slyboots  clambered  up  by  the  luxu- 
riant rose-vine  fastened  against  the  cottage 
wall,  and  in  a  moment  had  dropped  noise- 
lessly into  the  room. 

It  was  flooded  with  sweet  clear  moon- 
light. Clusters  of  roses  were  peeping  in  at 
the  window,  but  none  were  half  so  lovely  as 
the  little  human  rose-bud  lying  so  quietly  in 
her  tiny  white  bed.  She  might  have  come 
out  of  Elfin  land — she  was  so  fair  and  sweet ; 
her  merry  blue  eyes  closed,  her  little  song- 
voice  stilled,  and  a  lovely  flush  on  her  soft 
cheek  from  the  kissing  of  the  warm  and 


124  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

balmy  wind,  which,  danced  in  and  out  of  its 
own  sweet  will. 

Hovering  over  her — a  malignant  gleam 
in  his  eyes — was  the  wasp.  Already  was  his 
"body  curved  to  inflict  the  mean  and  cruel 
sting  upon  the  defenceless  child,  when,  with 
a  bound,  Slyboots  was  upon  him,  cut  him 
sharply  with  his  sword,  and  then  scampered 
out  of  the  window  and  took  refuge  in  a  great 
rose,  apologizing  to  the  little  fairy  whose 
home  it  was.  With  his  back  against  the 
rose-leaves,  and  his  shield  on  guard,  Slyboots 
waited  for  the  fray. 

Out  came  the  wasp,  breathing  fire  and 
fury ;  his  usual  snarling  hum  changed  into  a 
fiendish  roar  of  rage.  Then  did  begin  a 
most  tremendous  battle ! !  The  fairy's  blows 


SLYBOOTS  FIGHTING  THE  WASP. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  125 

fell  thick  and  fast  upon  the  horny  head  of 
his  enemy,  who  vainly  sought  to  sting  him ; 
but  the  trusty  shield  was  never  off  duty. 
The  wasp  kept  up  a  horrid  din,  as  with  mad- 
dening ferocity  and  desperation,  he  tried  to 
find  his  foe,  for  he  was  now  blinded  with  the 
blows.  Panting  with  pain,  and  roaring  with 
rage,  he  flew  wildly  round  and  round,  return- 
ing each  time  with  fourfold  fury  to  the 
charge,  till  at  last  a  well-directed  stroke  of 
the  elfin's  sword  cleft  his  head  asunder,  and 
he  fell  prone  to  the  earth,  with  one  prodig- 
ious kick  of  all  his  feet  in  the  air  together. 

Down  jumped  Slyboots  from  the  friendly 
rose,  and  making  sure  of  the  death  of  his 
enemy  by  sundry  bangs  and  whacks  with  the 
flat  of  his  sword,  quickly  made  a  stout  rope 


126  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

of  corn  silk,  and  fastening  it  round  the  head 
of  the  wasp,  began  his  joyful  journey  back 
to  the  fairy  hollow. 

The  good  grasshopper  had  been  a  deeply 
interested  spectator  of  the  battle ;  his  eyes 
hanging  out  like  a  lobster's  with  anxiety,  and 
chirping  a  perfectly  continuous  rattle  of  en- 
couragement to  Slyboots,  so  that  really  he 
was  as  hoarse  as  a  bull-frog  when  it  was  all 
over.  "With  cheerful  alacrity  he  helped  the 
breathless  fairy  tie  up  the  dead  body  of  the 
wasp,  and  willingly  allowed  the  other  end  of 
the  corn  silk  rope  to  be  fastened  to  one  of 
his  long  hind  legs ;  and  then  Slyboots  mount- 
ing him  once  more,  he  tugged  and  scrambled 
along  with  his  double  burthen  with  so  much 
hearty  will,  that  they  arrived  at  the  fairy 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  127 

ground  at  least  one  minute  and  a  quarter 
within  the  hour. 

Meanwhile  harmony  and  order  had  been 
restored  in  the  beautiful  hollow.  The  old 
prime  minister  was  fast  asleep  under  a  fern 
leaf,  with  his  precious  bumble-bee  memorial 
under  his  head,  and  Charley  was  watching 
with  delighted  interest  the  many  happy 
groups  upon  which  the  moonbeams  lovingly 
rested.  Some  were  dancing  the  Fairy  Lancers, 
some  eating  and  laughing  at  the  little  tables, 
some  having  a  childish  game  of  cats-cradle 
with  the  tendrils  of  the  grape-vine,  and  all 
were  full  of  mirth  and  gaiety,  as  noisy  and 
happy  as  it  was  possible  to  be ;  in  fact,  the 
fairies  were  marvellously  like  you,  little 
reader ;  you  are  both  full  of  fun  and  noise, 


128  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

and  have  no  idea  of  going  through  the  world 
slowly  and  carefully,  as  if  you  were  stepping 
on  one  feather-bed,  and  had  your  head  tied 
up  in  another.  Not  at  all!  they  and  you 
just  jump  and  tumble  about  with  prodigious 
talents  for  frolic,  wearing  out  your  shoes,  and 
tearing  your  clothes — that  is,  you,  for  the 
fairies'  shoes  and  clothes  have  a  patent  trick 
of  always  looking  fresh  and  new.  Charley 
thought  his  dear  brothers  and  sisters  were 
very  like  these  little  creatures  in  their  fond- 
ness for  fun,  and  he  did  wish  that  they  were 
here  this  Midsummer  night  to  have  "  a  real 
good  time." 

Presently  the  Queen  said  to  him,  "  Char- 
ley, did  you  ever  blow  bubbles  ? " 

"Yes,  often,  beautiful  lady." 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  129 

"  And  what  have  you  seen  in  them  ? " 
asked  the  Queen. 

"  Oh !  the  most  lovely  colors !  and  some- 
times a  charming  tiny  picture  of  the  room 
where  we  were." 

"Would  you  like  to  see  some  fairy  bub- 
bles?" 

"  Ah,  yes  !  I  should  like  it  of  all  things." 

The  Queen  gently  clapped  her  hands, 
and  instantly  a  page  was  kneeling  at  her 
feet. 

"  Go,  light- wing,"  said  the  Queen,  "  and 
tell  Fancy  to  come  here  with  her  basin  of 
foam  and  magic  pipe." 

The  fairy  rose  from  his  knee,  bowed  low, 
and  sped  away.  In  an  instant  he  returned 
in  company  with  the  daintiest,  most  ethereal 
9 


130  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

little  elf  in  fairy -land.  Her  wings  were  of 
air — her  golden  ringlets  danced  in  the  "  trem- 
ulous, singing  wind,"  giving  out  the  perfume 
of  the  blossoming  lily ;  her  tiny  rose-bud  of 
a  mouth  opened,  disclosing  the  whitest  and 
smallest  seed-pearl  teeth,  as  with  a  smile 
beaming  with  love  and  sweetness,  she  said : 

"  Beloved  Queen,  most  gladly  have  I  come 
at  your  bidding.  Deign  but  to  command, 
and  I  will  hasten  to  obey." 

"  Dear  Fancy,"  said  the  Queen,  placing 
her  hand  tenderly  upon  Charley's  shoulder, 
"here  is  a  lovely  mortal  who  has  suffered 
from  his  infancy ;  but  all  his  pain  has  not 
been  sufficient  to  sour  his  temper,  or  conquer 
his  gratitude  and  love  for  the  blessings  and 
mercies  which  remain  to  him.  As  flowers 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  131 

spring  from  the  dust,  so  have  love,  and  truth, 
and  every  noble  quality,  sprung  from  the 
dark  and  bitter  suffering  of  his  life.  For 
this  I  love  him,  and  will  strive  to  make  the 
few  days  left  to  him  on  earth  less  sad,  less 
painful ;  and  I  will  do  this  by  showing  him 
all  our  fairy  life.  I  have  sent  for  you  to 
ask  you  to  exhibit,  for  his  amusement,  some 
magic  bubbles ;  I  would  like  him  to  look  at 
them  now." 

For  answer,  the  little  elf  bowed  grace- 
fully, dipped  her  pipe  in  the  foaming  dew, 
and  began  to  breathe  softly  through  the 
stem. 

Soon  the  thin  bubble  rose  in  the  twink- 
ling fire-fly  light.  At  first  it  was  all  of  a 
gray-dark  color ;  but  out  of  this  dark,  like 


132  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

the  sun  "breaking  through,  the  mist,  bright 
golden  and  ruby  tints  began  to  appear. 

It  grew  in  size  and  splendor,  till  at  last 
the  fairy  gently  waving  the  pipe,  the  bubble 
slowly  and  gracefully  floated  away,  and  up 
a  little,  and  then  poised  itself,  and  rested  just 
before  Charley. 

It  was  like  a  moving  picture  in  an  oval 
frame.  Within  appeared  a  large  and  hand- 
some parlor  ;  a  number  of  beautiful  little  chil- 
dren were  grouped  about  the  room,  evidently 
waiting  for  some  event  to  happen.  Presently 
a  baby-boy  entered — a  perfect  bud  of  beauty. 
His  fine  and  snowy-white  garment  was  dain- 
tily embroidered  and  trimmed  after  a  most 
royal  fashion,  with  ivy  leaves.  Upon  his 
beautiful  head,  crowned  with  light  and  lovely 


*     THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  133 

pale  golden  curls,  was  a  wreath  also  of 
ivy. 

With  his  luminous  starry  eyes  uplifted, 
and  the  dimples  peeping  in  and  out  of  his 
rose-pink  cheeks,  he  went  around  and  offered 
a  welcoming  kiss  to  every  one  in  the  room. 
It  was  his  birthday.  Two  sweet,  happy 
years,  had  been  unfurled  in  his  little  life,  and 
the  children  were  now  gathered  together  in 
honor  of  the  event. 

Charley  gazed  with  lips  apart,  intent  and 
eager. 

All  at  once  he  exclaimed, — 

"Why!  it  is  Howard!  little  Howard! 
Why,  yes !  and  there  is  sweet  little  Carrie, 
his  sister,  with  the  beautiful  wreath  of  roses, 


134  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS.        * 

and  the  roses  on  her  dress !  Oh !  what  won- 
ders I  am  seeing ! '' 

As  he  spoke,  a  lady  entered,  Howard's 
loving  and  lovely  mother,  with  an  immense 
paper  bag,  and  proceeded  to  fasten  it  to  the 
chandelier  in  the  centre  of  the  ceiling ;  then 
some  one  else  came  in,  and  spread  a  large 
white  sheet  upon  the  carpet  immediately  un- 
derneath. 

Then  one  of  the  little  ones  was  blind- 
folded, and  a  cane  was  put  into  his  hands. 
He  was  to  try  to  strike  the  bag,  but  instead, 
he  made  a  tremendous  whack  at  nothing 
half  a  yard  one  side  of  the  bag,  which  made 
the  children  laugh  merrily. 

Charley  laughed,  too ;   you  could  hear 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  135 

him,  but  he  could  only  see  that  the  children 
in  the  magic  bubble  were  laughing. 

"  I  know  them  almost  all ! "  he  cried,  in 
a  voice  of  delight;  "there  are  Eva,  and 
Robbie,  and  Alice,  and  Hattie,  and  Minnie, 
and  Eddie,  and  sweet  little  Kitty  and  Mortie ; 
and  oh !  how  happy  they  all  look !  how  per- 
fect !  and  what  a  nice  time  they  must  be 
having ! " 

After  two  or  three  had  tried  to  strike  the 
bag,  little  baby  Howard  had  the  handkerchief 
tied  above  his  eyes,  just  for  fun,  because  he 
was  too  little  to  be  .really  blindfolded ;  and, 
armed  with  the  cane,  he  grasped  it  with  both 
tiny  hands,  his  eyes  dancing  with  glee,  and 
a  gladsome  smile  parting  his  sweet  little 
mouth,  showing  the  pearly  teeth  within. 


136  FAIEY    NIGHTCAPS. 

He  gave  the  "bag  a  sounding  thump,  and  in- 
stantly it  burst  asunder,  and  a  perfect  cataract 
of  candies  and  sugar-plums  poured  down  upon 
the  carpet.  Quick  as  a  flash  every  child  in 
the  room  was  clustered  together  upon  the 
sheet  helter-skelter,  head-over-heels,  laugh- 
ing, screaming,  dashing  after  the  candies; 
and  then — the  bubble  burst,  and  Charley  saw 
no  more. 

"  Oh !  oh !  how  beautiful !  how  wonder- 
ful ! "  said  the  lame  boy ;  "  dear,  dear  little 
fairy !  I  thank  you  ;  but  I  should  so  like  to 
know  what  the  children  did  after  that." 

Again  the  pipe  was  dipped  in  the  foam- 
dew,  and  the  fairy  blew  out  another  bubble, 
that  floated  away  and  rested  as  before. 

This  time  a  wide  hall,  with  a  table  in 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  137 

the  centre,  appeared.  Upon  the  table  the 
colored  waiters  were  quickly  placing  large 
dishes  of  cakes,  oranges,  mottoes,  and  pyra- 
mids of  cream.  A  door,  within  which  shone 
a  bright  light,  opened  into  this  hall,  and  a 
little  dancing  form  flitting  past  now  and  then, 
showed  that  the  children  were  frolicking  in- 
side. 

When  the  table  was  so  perfectly  covered, 
that  it  very  nearly  broke  down  under  the 
weight  of  goodies,  there  was  seen  issuing 
from  the  parlor-door,  first,  the  beautiful  little 
king  of  the  feast,  carried  in  his  father's  arms, 
his  eyes  sparkling,  and  his  whole  face  radiant 
with  smiles.  After  him  came,  two  and  two, 
all  the  lovely  little  band  ;  they  marched  en- 
tirely round  the  table,  and  you  may  be  sure 


138  FAIIIY   NIGHTCAPS. 

they  all  looked  one  way — and  that  way  was 
the  table-way,  of  course,  where  such  a  grand 
feast  was  spread  out.  That  was  the  party,  as 
I  once  heard  a  little  girl  say,  and  who  added, 
"  Oh !  I'm  so  glad !  the  party  has  come — look 
what  a  lot  of  it!" 

And  now  what  a  tremendous  time  the 
boys  had  helping  the  little  girls,  and  filling 
their  laps  with  every  thing  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on,  and  then  cramming  their  own 
pockets  till  they  stuck  out  all  over  like 
balloons. 

Just  as  they  were  in  the  height  of  eating, 
and  laughing,  and  presenting  each  other 
with  mottoes,  on  which  were  printed  the 
most  beautiful  poetry,  declaring  that  they 
would  love  each  other  as  long  as  they  lived, 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  139 

and  nobody  knows  how  much  longer ;  and 
Charley  was  looking  on  wild  with  delight — 
presto !  the  bubble  suddenly  burst,  and  the 
picture  was  gone. 

"  Oh !  can  any  thing  be  more  perfect ! " 
cried  Charley.  "  I  am  so  happy  !  Dear  little 
fairy  !  do  let  me  kiss  you  for  making  me  so 
happy." 

With  a  loving  smile  the  beautiful  elfin 
fluttered  her  wings  and  flew  into  his  breast, 
where  she  lay  nestling  like  a  little  white 
dove.  Charley  tenderly  lifted  her  up,  kissed 
her  soft  tiny  cheek,  touched  her  golden  ring- 
lets, and  felt  her  breath,  fragrant  as  the  per- 
fume of  violets,  fanning  his  face.  He  was 
silent  with  happiness,  painting  over  in  his 
mind  Fancy's  magic  pictures.  The  beautiful 


140  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

l 

Queen  sat  watching  him,  and  enjoying  his 
delight,  when  a  far-off  sound  startled  them 
both — a  sound  of  acclamation.  Nearer  and 
nearer  it  came,  till  the  air  rang  with  tiny 
shouts  and  joyful  clapping  of  hands.  The 
voices  were  respectfully  hushed  as  a  crowd 
of  fairies  advanced  into  the  Queen's  presence ; 
and  Charley  saw  that  Slyboots  was  in  their 
midst,  weary  and  breathless,  his  wings  still 
hidden  in  the  spider-net,  but  exultantly 
dragging  the  dead  wasp  by  the  corn-silk 
cord.  His  wee  face  looked  pale;  but  his 
eyes  shone  with  the  old  brightness,  as  the 
Queen's  glance  fell  kindly  and  approvingly 
upon  him. 

"  Did  you  arrive  in  time  to  save  Minnie ' 
from  the  cruel  sting  ? "  she  said. 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  141 

"I  did,  please  your  gracious  Majesty," 
answered  Slyboots. 

"  And  did  you  waken  her  ? " 

"  No,  my  Queen ;  I  struck  the  wasp,  and 
drew  him  outside  of  the  window,  where  I 
took  refuge  in  a  rose,  and  from  thence,  with 
my  good  sword,  I  gave  him  battle.  Long 
and  fiercely  we  fought  in  the  moonlight.  The 
little  yellow  butterflies  crept  under  the 
leaves  affrighted ;  the  midges  in  the  air 
trembled,  and  whispered  to  each  other  that 
an  earthquake  was  surely  at  hand ;  but  at 
last  my  enemy  bit  the  dust,  and  I  pounded 
him  till  he  was  as  dead  as  the  prime  minis- 
ter's abominable  bumble-bee's  mem — " 

"Silence!"  interrupted  the  Queen;  but 
she  really  had  to  laugh,  for  Slyboots  looked 


142  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

at  her  with  such  a  comical  twist  of  his  eye, 
which  changed  to  a  beam  of  happiness  as  her 
Majesty  said  to  him : 

"You  have  done  your  task  aright,  and 
gladly  we  forgive  you ;  but  remember,  Sly- 
boots, never  let  your  love  of  fun  carry  you 
so  far  again  ;  and  put  this  piece  of  advice  in 
your  pocket — keep  out  of  the  way  of  the 
prime  minister  the  next  time  you  have  tight 
ropes  erected  for  your  friends  to  dance  on." 

Slyboots'  face  grew  as  red  as  a  scarlet 
poppy  at  this  allusion,  and  the  laugh  that 
followed ;  and  the  Queen,  seeing  his  confu- 
sion, said :  "  Quick,  Ripple — quick,  Firefly — - 
release  his  wings." 

In  a  moment  the  fairy  knights  had  cut 
away  the  gray  network,  and  Slyboots  joy- 


THE  FAIRIES'  LIFE.  143 

fully  shook  his  wings,  now  brighter  than 
ever. 

Just  at  that  moment  a  bugle-call  sounded 
from  the  sentry  at  the  top  of  Crow  Nest,  and 
a  faint  twittering  of  a  little  bird  was  heard 
in  a  tree  skirting  the  hollow.  The  dawn 
was  coming,  lifting  the  dew-mist  from  the 
lap  of  the  earth ;  a  faint  light  was  streaking 
the  east,  as  the  Queen,  gathering  her  shining 
band,  with  Charley  in  the  midst,  rose  in  the 
air,  and  flitted  away  to  the  cottage  window. 
Softly  they  laid  him  down,  and  the  Queen 
touched  his  eyes.  The  white  lids  drooped 
heavily,  then  closed,  as  a  grateful  balmy 
sleep  wrapped  his  senses  like  a  mantle. 

Then  the  Queen  softly  detached  the 
gauzy  wings,  and  handed  them  to  her  page, 


144  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

Lightwing,  charging  him  to  guard  them 
carefully.  The  little  mother  lay  with  her 
cheek  in  her  hand,  never  stirring,  and  the 
kitten  looked  on  this  time  with  a  friendly 
purr;  and  just  as  the  first  day  glimpse  had 
gilded  the  hill-tops,  the  fairy  train  had  van- 
ished into  the  sweet  hazy  mist  of  the  MID- 
SUMMER 


THE   CHILDKEN'S  LIFE. 

MIDSUMMER  morning  broke  in  gorgeous, 
glorious  brightness.  Light  fleecy  clouds 
floated  swiftly  over  the  blue  heaven  ;  a  crisp 
fresh  wind  curled  the  waters  of  the  Hudson ; 
and  the  beautiful  little  island  opposite  West 
Point  lay  on  its  bosom  like  an  emerald  ;  its 
green  banks  clasped  by  the  loving  tide. 

With  the  first  drum-beat,  the  happy 
Nightcap  children  were  up  and  dressed ;  and 
having,  with  more  gratitude  than  usual, 
10 


146  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

thanked  their  Heavenly  Father  for  so  many 
blessings,  they  went  first  to  inquire  how 
their  clear  brother  Charley  had  passed  the 
night. 

"  Hush ! "  said  the  little  mother,  as  they 
came  to  the  door,  "  don't  chatter  now ;  Char- 
ley is  still  sleeping ;  do  not  make  any  noise ; 
see  how  lovely  he  looks." 

The  children  crept  in  on  tiptoe,  and 
gazed  lovingly  at  the  sleeping  boy.  At  that 
moment  a  warm  glow  flashed  suddenly  into 
his  cheek,  and  his  lips  parted  in  a  glad  smile. 

"  Oh !  see,  see ! "  whispered  the  children, 
"  Charley  is  dreaming ;  perhaps  he  is  talking 
to  the  fairies  the  doctor  told  us  about ;  when 
he  awakes  we  will  ask  him." 

Then  they  went  softly  down  stairs  and 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  147 

out  into  the  fresh  delicious  air.  The  birds 
were  chanting  their  morning  hymns;  the 
lawn  was  golden  green  with  the  sun's  rays, 
and  spangled  with  dew.  Bees  were  dreamily 
humming  over  the  wealth  of  honeysuckles 
and  roses  that  covered  the  cottage-wall, 
gathering  their  sweet  and  fragrant  food  at 
their  leisure. 

The  children  felt  the  blessed  influences 
of  all  these  lovely  works  of  the  great  Crea- 
tor in  an  increase  (if  such  a  thing  were  pos- 
sible) of  their  happiness  and  joy. 

You  would  have  thought  they  were  made 
of  corks,  so  lightly  did  they  skip  here  and 
there,  running  round  the  trees  after  each 
other,  the  boys  turning  somersets  on  the 
grass,  and  the  girls  declaring  that  they  could 


148  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

get  to  the  top  of  Crow  Nest  with  only  a  hop, 
skip,  and  jump. 

"  Oh,  delightful ! "  cried  George,  "  to  get 
up  a  mountain  with  three  steps  !  you'll  have 
to  borrow  Jack's  seven-leagued  boots.  I 
wonder  who  lives  on  the  top  ? " 

"  Why,  the  crows,  to  be  sure,"  said  Har- 
ry, "  and  they  keep  up  sucJi  a  talking ;  it  is 
like  a  hail-storm  all  the  time;  you  never 
heard  any  thing  like  the  way  crows  can 
scold.  If  one  crow  is  caught  stealing,  all  the 
rest  caw  and  croak  at  him,  till  he  very  nearly 
goes  into  fits,  and  then  they  all  fly  at  him 
till  he  hasn't  a  feather  left ;  I  read  all  about 
it  in  my  Natural  History." 

"  Oh ! "  cried  little  Minnie,  "  how  I  like  to 
hear  stories  about  fishes  !  tell  another  crow 
story." 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  149 

While  the  children  were  good-naturedly 
laughing  and  explaining  to  Minnie  that  a 
crow  was  a  bird,  their  mother  appeared  at 
the  cottage-door  and  said,  "Breakfast,  chil- 
dren." 

In  they  all  rushed,  quite  ready  for  the 
nice  corn-bread,  boiled  eggs,  and  real  milk — 
not  milkmarts  milk — but  they  looked  round 
in  some  surprise  for  Charley. 

"He  is  still  sleeping,"  said  the  little 
mother,  "  and  smiling  in  his  sleep ;  this  quiet 
rest  will  do  him  so  much  good,  I  hope.  Oh, 
my  precious  Charley ! "  she  exclaimed,  "  if  I 
could  only  keep  you  a  little  longer ; "  and 
her  eyes  filled  with  tears. 

The  children  looked  sad  and  grave,  and 
two  or  three  went  round  and  kissed  their 


150  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

mother,  and  patted  her  kind  cheek,  and  said 
they  were  sure  Charley  was  better.  After 
breakfast  they  stole  softly  up  stairs  to  look 
again  at  their  darling  brother. 

Charley  was  sitting  up  in  bed  as  they  en- 
tered :  a  strange  bewildered  expression  was 
upon  his  face,  and  he  had  his  hands  behind 
him,  trying  to  feel  his  shoulders. 

"  Do  come  here,  George,"  said  he,  "  and 
see  if  there  are  wings  upon  my  back." 

"  WINGS  ! ! ! "  shouted  the  children  in 
amazement,  "  what  can  Charley  mean  ? " 

"  Yes,  wings"  replied  Charley ;  "  the  fairy 
Queen  fastened  them  upon  my  back  last 
night,  and  I  went  with  her  and  her  beauti- 
ful maids  of  honor  to  the  Midsummer  ball. 
Oh !  how  delightful  it  was,  and  how  I  longed 
for  you ! " 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  151 

"  Goodness !  "  exclaimed  the  children, 
"  did  you  really  go  ?  How  perfect !  Did 
you  ever  ?  Why  didn't  they  take  us,  too  ? 
Oh,  Charley !  do  begin  at  the  very  beginning, 
and  tell  us  all  about  it.  Won't  you  ?  Say ! 
do,  come ! " 

Clustering  around  the  bed,  their  eyes 
fastened  upon  his  face,  breathless  with  won- 
der and  delight,  and  with  no  end  of  exclama- 
tions, they  listened  to  the  enchanting  ac- 
count of  Charley's  adventures.  The  little 
mother  came  in  the  room  just  at  the  end ; 
upon  which  they  all  rushed  at  her  in  a  body, 
and  told  the  amazing  story  over  again,  all 
talking  at  the  same  time ;  and  the  little 
mother  said  quite  as  many  "  Ahs "  and 
"  Ohs "  and  "  did  you  evers "  as  they  did. 


152  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

But  she  smiled  lovingly  at  her  lame  boy, 
and  parting  the  golden  curls  on  his  white 
forehead,  and  kissing  him  tenderly,  whisper- 
ed, "My  darling  knows  that  he  has  been 
DEEAMING." 

Was  it  a  dream  ? 

Charley  was  so  much  better  that  day, 
that  the  good  doctor,  when  he  came,  was  as- 
tonished ;  and  when  he  heard  that  the  fairies 
had  done  him  the  honor  to  take  him  to  their 
Midsummer  festival,  he  was  delighted,  as 
well  as  astonished,  and  laughingly  declared 
that  the  elves  had  robbed  him  of  his  patient. 
"  Why,  Charley,"  he  continued,  "  if  the  fairy 
Queen  can  put  such  a  rosy  color  in  your 
cheeks,  and  such  a  sparkle  in  your  eyes  in  one 
night,  she  beats  me  all  to  pieces  at  doctor- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  153 

ing.  I  shall  have  to  give  you  up  to  her,  and 
only  come  here  every  day  to  make  a  social 
call,  so  that  you  and  I,  two  old  fellows,  can 
have  a  talk  about  the  state  of  the  country. 
But  I  may  as  well  put  my  pills  and  powders 
into  one  of  the  cannons,  and  fire  them  off  at 
some  of  the  fine  ladies  who  go  about,  sweep- 
ing the  parade-ground  with  their  furbelowed 
dresses,  and  think  they  are  dying  of  dyspep- 
sia, when  all  they  want  is  some  useful  occu- 
pation. I  have  lots  of  them  to  make  bread 
pills  for,  and  I  may  as  well  let  the  fairies 
have  my  dear  little  friend  here." 

Just  at  that  instant  the  drums  made  a 
prodigious  clatter,  and  the  children  started 
up  to  see  what  it  meant. 

"  It  is  the  call  for  the  cavalry  drill,"  said 
the  doctor ;  "  you  had  better  run." 


154  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

Off  scampered  the  children  to  the  edge 
of  the  parade-ground,  their  eyes  dancing  with 
expectation  and  eagerness. 

On  their  way  they  passed  the  encamp- 
ment ;  they  gazed  at  the  snow-white  tents  of 
the  cadets  with  the  utmost  interest,  and  in- 
deed would  rather  have  lived  in  these  de- 
lightful canvas  houses,  than  in  a  king's 
palace. 

"  Oh !  Harry ! "  exclaimed  Anna,  "  I  won- 
der if  we  mightn't  just  peep  into  one  of 
them." 

"Certainly,"  answered  Harry,  who  was 
always  ready  for  adventures,  and  he  lifted  up 
the  opening  of  the  tent  nearest. 

"  Oh !  what  a  perfect  place ! "  he  cried  ; 
"  come  !  look ! "  and  he  disappeared  within. 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  155 

The  children  all  peeped  in,  their  heads 
looking  like  a  bunch  of  grapes,  all  piled  one 
on  top  of  the  other ;  while  Harry,  inside, 
pretended  he  was  a  showman,  and  made 
them  a  speech. 

"  Walk  in,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  he 
said,  "  and  see  the  show — all  for  sixpence  ; 
children  half  price.  Here  you  have  one 
small  bed,  or  humble  cot,  one  camp  stool,  one 
very  small  looking-glass,  on  the  back  of 
which,"  he  continued,  turning  it  suddenly 
over,  "is  a  picture  of  the  great  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  running  away,  with  his  drawn 
sword  in  one  hand,  and  a  leg  of  mutton  in 
the  other;  while  just  below  i.£  another  of  an 
old  cadet,  poking  a  young  one  with  his 
bayonet." 


156  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

The  children  were  laughing  heartily  over 
these  specimens  of  the  fine  arts,  drawn  by 
one  of  the  cadets,  when 

Bang!  tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tr.  Bang!  tr-tr-tr-tr- 
tr-tr  went  the  drums  again.  Off  they  hur- 
ried to  the  parade-ground,  and  there,  out  in 
the  bright  morning  sunlight,  which  came 
down  like  "nickering  gold"  through  the 
glowing  air,  galloped  that  fierce  and  brave 
Colonel  Hardie,  who  looked  as  if  he  should 
consider  it  the  merest  trifle  to  fight  a  dozen 
enemies  at  once,  and  kill  them  all,  as  a  matter 
of  course. 

And  out  galloped  a  regiment  of  cadets,, 
while  Colonel  Hardie,  wheeling  round,  await- 
ed their  coming. 

With  their  drawn  swords  flashing  in  the 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  157 

glorious  brightness,  and  the  gallant  Colonel 
now  at  their  head  ;  they  wheeled  about,  and 
turned  about,  dashed  here  and  there,  sud- 
denly advancing,  then  as  suddenly  retreat- 
ing, with  their  horses  rearing  and  prancing, 
and  snorting  and  dancing,  till  you  would 
have  been  sure  they  were  in  the  greatest 
possible  hurry  to  rush  full  tilt  at  somebody, 
no  matter  who,  and  instantly  run  them 
through  with  their  sharp  naked  swords, 
without  giving  them  a  ghost  of  a  chance  to 
cry  "  Quarter." 

The  children  looked  on  with  great  eyes 
and  a  kind  of  delicious  fear,  and  were  almost 
crazy  after  the  drill  was  over,  to  run  and 
beg  the  cadets  to  lend  them  their  horses  and 
swords,  so  as  to  practise  the  cavalry  drill 
themselves. 


158  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

They  walked  on  the  edge  of  the  parade- 
ground,  looking  all  around  them  with  the 
most  amused  and  delighted  interest ;  at  times 
fairly  singing  and  skipping  for  joy,  and  ea- 
gerly planning  long  walks  and  voyages  of 
discovery. 

Minnie  thought  there  must  be  a  "day 
party"  somewhere,  the  people  were  dressed 
so  fine,  and  everybody  seemed  so  very  happy. 

Numbers  of  elegantly  dressed  ladies 
were  walking  about,  and  some  fine-looking 
officers  were  paying  them  all  the  compliments 
they  could  think  of.  In  the  midst  of  a 
group  of  gentlemen,  high  above  them  all, 
towered  the  -majestic  form  of  the  brave  Gen- 
eral Scott,  who  has  won  so  many  battles  for 
us  in  Mexico,  and  who  is  Commander-in- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  159 

Chief  of  all  the  soldiers  in  our  country.  The 
children  looked  at  him  with  the  greatest  ad- 
miration ;  and  the  boys  made  up  their  minds 
that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  they  should 
be  soldiers  when  they  grew  up ;  and  they 
would  have  given  all  they  possessed  to  sleep 
now  in  the  canvas  tents  like  the  brave 
cadets. 

And  now  the  children  began  to  descend 
a  winding  path,  and  wandered  down  a  beau- 
tiful road  where  the  trees  met  overhead. 
The  air  was  fragrant  with  the  woodbine 
which  curled  round  the  trunks  of  the  trees, 
while,  at  their  feet,  tiny  harebells  and  the 
purple  violet  modestly  peeped  up. 

Jumping,  skipping,  and  gathering  wild 
flowers,  they  came  at  length  to  a  lovely  open 


160  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

space  scooped  out  of  the  rock,  as  it  seemed, 
in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  crystal  spring, 
which  comes  up  sweet  and  clear  into  a  stone 
basin. 

Upon  this  basin  they  read  the  name  of 
the  great  "Kosciusko;"  and  this  was  his 
garden,  where  he  used  to  sit  for  many  hours 
in  the  day  reading  his  book,  or  admiring  the 
glorious  works  of  God  spread  before  him. 
The  children  looked  with  love  and  admira- 
tion upon  the  name  and  place  where  the 
good  and  brave  Pole  had  been;  and  the 
boys  audibly  hoped  that  they  would  do  some- 
thing very  noble  and  brave  when  they  grew 
up,  so  that  everybody  might  speak  well  of 
them. 

As  they  drew  near  the  house,  they  saw  a 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  161 

lady  sitting  in  the  bowery  porch  with  their 
mother. 

"  Goodness !  "  cried  half  a  dozen  of  them, 
"  it's  Aunt  Fanny !  Did  you  ever  2 "  And 
thereupon  they  charged  like  a  company  of 
cadets  going  to  fire  on  the  run,  and  shot 
Aunt  Fanny  with  a  whole  volley  of  kisses. 

It  was  really  a  wonder  she  looked  so  well 
after  it ;  fifty  kisses  in  a  minute  is  pretty  se- 
vere loving  ;  but  Aunt  Fanny  only  laughed 
when  she  could  catch  her  breath,  and,  taking 
Minnie  on  her  lap,  asked  what  particular  fun 
and  mischief  they  had  been  about  lately. 

Then  didn't  they  have  a  grand  time,  tell- 
ing about  their  journey  ?  and  the  wonderful 
fairy  adventures  of  Charley  2  And  Charley, 
who  was  sitting  leaning  against  his  mother, 
11 


162  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

declared  that  lie  could  not  have  dreamt  them, 
because  he  remembered  them  all  so  well,  and 
he  had  felt  so  much  better  ever  since  the  beau- 
.tiful  fairy  Queen  had  taken  him  in  charge. 

"  Why,"  cried  Aunt  Fanny,  "  I  shall  have 
to  go  back  to  Idlewild,  where  I  passed  two 
delightful  hours  this  morning,  right  away, 
and  tell  all  this  to  the  lovely  children  I  saw 
there.  I  am  sure  Edith,  and  Daisy,  and 
sweet  little  Bailey,  would  go  straightway 
down  to  their  beautiful  Glen,  to  hunt  up  the 
fairies  that  no  doubt  live  there  hidden  under 
the  ferns  and  mosses,  so  fairily  fine  and  deli- 
cate. 

"  O  Aunt  Fanny !  "  cried  the  children, 
"  do  tell  us  about  Idlewild  and  dear  little 
Edith,  and  Daisy,  and  Bailey  Idlewild." 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  163 

* 

"  That  is  not  the  name  of  the  children, 
you  monkeys,"  said  Aunt  Fanny,  laughing, 
"  any  more  than  you  are  Harry  and  Minnie 
Nightcap.  It  is  the  fanciful,  dreamily  sweet 
name  of  the  place;  and  the  pure  life  and 
neighborly  love  ever  adorning  and  brighten- 
ing that  graceful  and  kindly  house-roof, 
make  June  sunshine  all  over  the  lovely  place 
the  year  round." 

"  Ah  !  how  delightful  it  must  be,"  cried 
the  children ;  "  do  tell  us,  Aunt  Fanny,  all 
about  your  visit." 

"  Well,  to  begin  at  the  beginning,  I  went 
up  to  Cornwall  upon  some  business,  and  I 
staid  all  night  at  a  house  just  this  side  of  the 
beautiful  Idle  wild  Glen.  In  the  evening  I 
was  invited  to  go  to  a  Sunday-school  cele- 


164  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

^  » 

bration ;  I  was  very  glad  to  get  this  invita- 
tion, "because  I  love  children  so  much.  The 
services  were  all  very  interesting,  but  the 
best  thing  of  all  was  a  most  beautiful  story 
which  was  told,  to  prove  the  blessed  effect  of 
love  upon  the  heart,  and  how  much  better  it 
was  to  govern  by  love,  than  by  fear  and  con- 
tinual punishment." 

"  We  know  that ! "  exclaimed  the  chil- 
dren, "  that's  the  very  way  mother  governs 
us — don't  you,  mamma  ?  "  and  they  all  had 
to  give  her  a  kiss  before  they  said,  "  Please 
go  on,  Aunt  Fanny ;  do  tell  us  the  story." 

"  The  teacher  said  it  was  true,  every  word 
of  it,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  he  got  it 
out  of  a  book,  or  whether  it  happened  to 
some  children  he  knew ;  perhaps  you  have 
read  it  already." 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  165 

"  O  dear !  no,  we  haven't,  I'm  sure,"  said 
the  children,  "  and  if  we  have,  your  way  of 
telling  it  will  make  it  new  again.  Come, 
Aunt  Fanny,  tell  the  story." 

"Well,  then,  here  it  is — Once  on  a 
time  a  good  old  farmer  said  to  his  wife, 
1  Wife,  you  know  poor  neighbor  Jones  died 
a  little  while  ago,  and  hiy  little  son  Johnny 
is  left  alone  in  the  world.  Suppose  we  take 
him  ?  One  more  will  make  very  little  differ- 
ence. Shall  we  ? ' 

" l  O  deary  me !  no,'  said  the  wife,  1 1 
wouldn't  have  him  among  our  children  for 
any  thing !  Why,  he's  worse  than  a  little 
heathen ! ' 

" '  So  he  is,'  said  the  farmer,  '  I'm  a  little 
afraid  to  try  it  myself — that's  a  fact ! ' 


166  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

"  Now  while  the  old  farmer  was  talking, 
he  was  also  busily  engaged  in  eating  his  din- 
ner of  pork  and  greens,  and  his  children  had 
kept  their  ears  open,  and  had  heard  all  that 
was  said. 

"  Presently  one  of  the  boys,  whose  name 
was  Luke,  looked  up  and  said,  '  Father,  you 
know  we  send  one  good  missionary  among  a 
great  many  heathen.  Now,  why  can't  we 
bring  this  one  little  heathen  among  a  great 
many  good  people  ?  I'll  lend  Johnny  my 
kite  and  ball,  and  we'll  be  so  kind  to  him  he 
will  never  want  to  be  bad.  Father,  WE'LL 


LOVE  HIM  GOOD.' 


"  The  good  old  farmer,  who  tried  his  best 
to  keep  God's  holy  commandments,  and  es- 
pecially to  '  love  his  neighbor,'  thought  this  an 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  167 

excellent  plan ;  so  he  brought  Johnny  home 
with  him  the  very  next  day. 

"Sure  enough,  Johnny  was  worse  than 
any  heathen.  He  broke  the  good  little  boy's 
ball,  tore  his  kite  all  to  pieces,  pulled  little 
Susie's  hair,  pinched  the  baby,  kicked  the 
small  children,  and  butted  the  large  boys 
with  his  head,  and,  in  short,  behaved  so 
badly,  that  they  were  all  nearly  crying: 
still  they  would  not  give  up  Luke's  plan,  but 
kept  on  trying  to  be  kind  to  him. 

"  But  it  was  all  of  no  use ;  Johnny  was 
really  a  dreadful  boy.  At  last  the  old  farmer 
said,  '  Well,  we  can't  go  on  so  with  Johnny ; 
he  must  have  obedience  knocked  into  him 
like  a  nail  in  a  plank  of  wood.  I  must  try  if 
I  can't  whip  him  into  better  behavior : '  so 


168  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

he  beat  the  bad  boy,  and  whipped  him,  and 
shook  him  till  his  teeth  rattled  in  his  head, 
and  his  hair  was  all  in  a  friz .  about  his  eyes. 
But,  alas !  it  did  no  good ;  Johnny  was  as 
bad  as  ever. 

"  Then  the  farmer  said,  '  Wife,  this  is  a 
very  bad  business ;  whipping  does  not  make 
Johnny  any  better ;  we  must  try  if  we  can't 
STAEVE  the  obstinacy  out  of  him/ 

" '  I  don't  like  to  do  that,'  said  the  wife. 

" '  But  it  must  be  done,'  answered  the  old 
farmer ;  '  it  is  our  duty  to  try  to  make  him 
a  good  boy.' 

"  So  they  shut  him  up  in  the  great  garret, 
where  paper  bags  of  dried  herbs,  and  strings 
of  red  peppers,  and  great  cobwebs,  kept  him 
company.  They  gave  him  nothing  to  eat 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  169 

and  drink  but  dry  bread  and  a  cup  of 
water. 

"  Every  now,  and  then  the  farmer's  wife 
would  come,  tap  at  the  door,  and  say, 
1  Johnny,  will  you  be  good  now  f '  and  John- 
ny would  shout  out  in  a  fierce  defiant  voice, 
'  No !  no !  I  won't !  You  may  lock  me  up 
forever  and  ever,  and  I  won't  be  good.'  So 
the  poor  farmer's  wife  would  heave  a  sigh 
and  go  away. 

"  All  the  morning  little  Susie  had  been 
very  silent,  with  the  tears  just  trembling  on 
her  eyelids.  She  felt  very  much  grieved 
that  Johnny  was  such  a  bad  boy,  and  she 
could  not  bear  to  think  of  him  in  the  lonely 
garret  with  no  company  but  his  wicked 
thoughts:  so,  after  dinner,  she  crept  softly 


170  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

up  to  her  mother,  and  said,  '  Mother,  I  think 
I  can  get  Johnny  to  be  good,  if  you  will  let 
me  try.' 

"  '  Well,'  said  her  mother,  smoothing  her 
hair  lovingly,  '  what  is  your  plan  ? ' 

"  '  Why,  mother,'  answered  the  little  girl, 
'  I  will  go  and  tell  Johnny  that  I  will  be 
locked  up  instead  of  him,  and  he  may  go 
play  with  my  dear  little  boat  that  brother 
made,  and  named  for  me.' 

"The  mother  looked  at  her  a  moment  with 
a  loving  tear  swelling  in  her  eyes,  then  she 
said,  *  Very  well,  you  may  go.' 

"  So  Susie  took  down  the  key  of  the  gar- 
ret, which  hung  behind  the  door,  and  went 
up  stairs,  unlocked  the  door,  and  then  tapped 
gently.  'Johnny,  may  I  come  in?'  said 
she. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  171 

"  l  What  do  you  want  now  f '  grumbled 
the  bad  boy.  Susie  went  in,  and  going 
softly  up  to  him,  she  said — '  Johnny,  mother 
says  you  may  go  and  play  with  my  little 
boat  this  afternoon,  and  I  will  be  locked  up 
instead.' 

"  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that  Johnny  was 
mean  enough  to  accept  this  offer,  and  let  the 
little  girl  bear  his  punishment ;  for  without 
even  stopping  to  thank  her,  he  started  up 
and  made  off,  slamming  the  door  behind 
him,  and  locking  it  with  a  spiteful  snap. 

"  He  had  a  famous  time  sailing  the  pretty 
little  boat  in  the  brook ;  and  only  came  in 
at  tea-time — as  hungry  as  a  bear. 

"  After  he  had  eaten  a  hearty  meal  of 
bread  and  butter,  baked  pears,  and  a  great 


172  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

piece  of  nice  gingerbread,  he  noticed  that 
the  farmer's  wife  commenced  to  clear  away 
the  things,  and  then  he  remembered  poor 
little  Susie.  He  sat  silent  a  good  while,  but 
at  last  he  could  not  stand  it  any  longer,  and 
he  said  —  '  Say  ?  ain't  you  agoing  to  give 
that  little  gal  up  stairs  any  tea  ?  say  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  Johnny,'  answered  the  mother, 
*  you  can  take  this  to  her,'  and  she  handed 
him  a  piece  of  dry  bread  on  a  plate. 

"Johnny  took  the  plate,  carried  it  up 
stairs,  and  began  to  kick  and  bang  at  the 
door — Thump !  bump !  thump ! 

" '  Unlock  it  and  come  in,'  cried  Susie. 
So  Johnny  did  so,  and  went  in;  but  when 
he  saw  the  dear  little  child  sitting  there  so 
patiently  and  smiling  at  him,  a  strange  trem- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  173 

bling  came  to  his  lips,  and  without  saying  a 
word,  he  put  down  the  plate,  and  darted 
away. 

"  All  that  night  Susie  staid  in  the  garret, 
and  slept  as  quietly  and  sweetly  as  if  she 
had  been  in  her  own  little  room. 

"  When  the  next  day  came,  Johnny  felt 
very  much  like  asking  pardon  for  his  bad 
conduct,  and  begging  that  Susie  might  come 
down  from  her  captivity,  while  he  took  her 
place ;  but  the  sun  was  shining  gloriously, 
and  Johnny  thought  of  the  little  boat ;  and 
so,  driving  away  the  good  thoughts  and  im- 
pulses, he  eat  his  breakfast,  snatched  up  the 
boat,  and  ran  out  to  play. 

"  When  dinner-time  came,  he  was  the  very 
first  to  come  in,  he  was  so  hungry ;  and  soon 


174  FAIllY   NIGHTCAPS. 

after  the  rest  of  the  family,  except  one,  took 
their  places. 

"  '  Where's  Susie  ? '  asked  Johnny. 

"  '  She  is  locked  up  in  the  garret,'  said 
her  mother. 

"  '  Can't  she  have  any  dinner  ? ' 

"  '  Yes ;  she  can  have  some  dry  bread ; ' 
and  the  farmer's  wife  gave  him  a  piece  on  a 
plate,  as  before. 

"Johnny  took  it,  and  went  slowly  up 
stairs.  He  opened  the  door.  There  sat 
Susie,  patient  and  silent.  He  put  the  plate 
beside  her,  t>ut  instead  of  going  away,  he 
stood  looking  at  her  in  silence. 

"  Presently  he  burst  out  with — '  Susie ! 
you're  a  fool,  I  say !  a  perfect  fool !  Before 
I'd  let  myself  be  locked  up,  I'd — I'd — '  here 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  175 

Johnny  stopped;  a  great  lump  came  into 
his  throat,  and  was  choking  him.  He  drew 
in  his  breath  with  a  painful  sob,  and  then 
burst  into  an  agony  of  tears,  and  rushing  up 
to  Susie,  he  threw  his  arms  about  her  neck, 
and  cried  out — 

"  '  O  Susie !  Susie !  please  forgive  me. 
I'll  never  be  so  bad  again,  never.  They 
might  have  whipped  me  forever,  and  starved 
me  forever,  and  it  would  just  have  made  me 
worse;  but  you  (and  here  the  great  tears 
came  fast  and  faster) — you  have  LOVED  ME 


GOOD.'  : 


"  O h  ! "  cried  the  children,  taking 

long  breaths,  and  wiping  their  eyes,  "  how 
lovely ! — what  a  good,  good  story — what  a 
dear,  darling  Susie!  She  must  have  heard 


176  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

of  mamma,  when  she  wanted  to  love  Johnny 
good." 

"  Yes,"  said  Aunt  Fanny,  "  I  think  she 
was  very  much  like  your  dear  mother,  and 
you  children  can  hardly  know  what  a  blessed 
lot  is  yours,  in  having  a  mother  who  rules 
you  by  LOVE." 

"  Yes,  we  do !  yes,  we  do ! "  cried  the 
children ;  we  know  she  is  a  perfect  darling ; 
and  thereupon  the  little  mother  underwent 
a  series  of  caresses  quite  alarming  to  witness. 

"  And  now  about  my  visit  to  Idlewild," 
said  Aunt  Fanny,  when  they  were  once  more 
quiet.  "  Soon  after  breakfast  I  commenced 
my  walk.  I  had  to  cross  the  wild  and  beau- 
tiful ravine.  I  am  afraid  I  looked  a  little 
like  a  figure  of  fun,  scrambling  and  scratch- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  177 

ing  down  the  slippery  descent.  I  have  no 
doubt  some  of  Charley's  fairies  were  laugh- 
ing at>  me  all  the  time ;  and  I  am  sure  the 
beautiful  little  waterfall  did,  as  it  came  joy- 
ously dancing  down  the  great  black  rocks. 
Really,  some  of  the  places  were  as  slippery 
as  ice ;  and  I  had  to  go  a-sliding  in  the  sum- 
mer time,  whether  I  wanted  to  or  not." 

"  How  nice  ! "  cried  the  children ;  "  that 
would  just  have  suited  the  old  woman  in 
Mother  Goose,  who  wanted  her  children  to 
slide  on  dry  ground.  You  can't  drown  that 
way,  you  know." 

"  Not  exactly ;  but  at  last  I  stood  upon 

the  famous  zigzag  bridge,  which  is  only  a 

single  plank    with   a  railing  on  one  side, 

made  of  a  long,  slender  sapling.     And  now, 

12 


178  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 


upon !  The  sun  came  in  dimples  and  rip- 
ples of  light  through  the  trees,  and  the 
waterfall,  with  its  soft  white  foam,  talked  to 
me  in  a  voice  full  of  power  and  beauty,  of 
the  greatness  and  goodness  of  God. 

"  When  I  got  to  the  house,  I  was  wel- 
comed by  its  fair  and  gentle  mistress  with  a 
simple  courtesy,  that  made  me  feel  at  home 
at  once.  Very  soon  a  sweet  little  maiden 
came  to  me,  and  shyly  offered  her  hand ; 
she  told  me  her  name  was  Daisy,  and  then 
she  called  her  baby  brother.  He  was  afraid 
of  me  at  first,  but  when  I  said,  '  Why, 
Bailey,  I  know  all  about  you.  I  know  how 
you  fed  the  little  birds  last  winter' " — 

"  Oh,"  interrupted  the  children,    "  how 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  179 

did  lie  feed  the  little  birds,  Aunt  Fan- 
ny?" 

"  If  you  will  put  me  in  mind,  I  will  tell 
you  by  and  by.  Then  Bailey  looked  at  me 
when  I  said  that,  with  wide-open  eyes  ;  and 
I  continued,  '  I  know  all  about  the  peacock, 
too,  so  I  do — more,  too.' 

"  Then  he  came  right  up  to  me,  and  laid 
his  dear  little  curly  head  in  my  lap,  and 
looking  up  in  my  face  with  his  merry,  bright 
blue  eyes,  he  said — '  I've  got  a  horse.' 

"  *  Why,  no !  You  don't  tell  me  so ! '  I 
exclaimed.  'Why,  I'm  astonished!  How 
many  legs  has  he  ? ' 

"  '  Two,  nailed  fast,  and  two,  kicking  up  in 
the  air/ 

" '  My  patience !  what  a  horse ! '  said  I. 


180  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

" '  But  come  ! '  said  the  little  darling  fel- 
low, pulling  at  my  dress,  '  come  see  my 
horse !  come  ! ' 

"  So  Daisy  and  the  mother,  and  Bailey 
and  I,  went  out  of  the  room.  Of  course  I 
expected  to  be  conducted  to  the  stables ;  but 
we  began  to  mount  the  stairs,  and  up  we 
went  till  we  arrived  at  the  third  story,  Bailey 
holding  me  fast  by  the  hand.  We  went  into 
a  large  room — the  children's  play-room — 
from  the  windows  of  which  there  was  a  mag- 
nificent view.  Sitting  at  one  of  them,  was 
the  kind,  motherly-looking  nurse,  to  whom  I 
was  introduced  as  to  an  old  friend.  As  I 
pressed  her  hand,  her  eyes  turned  fondly 
upon  her  mistress  and  the  lovely  children. 
I  looked  around,  and  sure  enough,  in  one  cor- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  181 

ner  was  a  prancing  charger,  standing  on  his 
hind  legs,  which  were  made  fast  to  a  spring 
rocker,  while  the  others  were  kicking  up  in 
the  air,  just  as  Bailey  had  told  me. 

"Then  the  little  fellow  was  lifted  up  on 
his  horse,  and  I  said,  "  Get  up,  pony ; "  and 
then  all  of  a  sudden  such  a  funny  little  shy 
fit  came  over  Bailey,  that  down  went  his  curly 
head  on  the  horse's  neck,  and  he  very  nearly 
tumbled  off.  After  that  he  dismounted,  and 
pulling  down  the  prancing  legs  of  the  horse, 
got  between  them,  and  holding  fast,  he  had 
a  fine  ride  after  an  ingenious  invention  of  his 
own ;  for,  as  the  horse's  legs  rose  in  the  air, 
up  went  little  Bailey,  and  then  down  he 
came  with  a  funny  little  stamp  of  his  feet  on 
the  carpet,  which  sent  him  into  the  air  again. 


182  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

"  Then  the  dear  little  fair-haired  Daisy 
showed  me  her  birds, '  Buttercup  '  and  '  Prim- 
rose,' and  two  others  whose  names  I  did  not 
hear ;  and  then  we  went  down  stairs  again. 

"  In  the  charming  library  we  met  another 
daughter,  a  lovely  young  lady,  and  a  friend 
who  was  visiting  her.  I  knew  this  young 
lady  before,  and  loved  her  very  much ;  and 
I  was  very  glad  to  meet  her ;  and  you  may 
be  sure  we  were  very  merry  together. 

"  Just  then  we  heard  Bailey's  voice  in 
the  hall,  lifted  up  in  loud  wailing  and  weep- 
ing. We  all  rushed  out,  thinking  the  sweet 
little  fellow  had  fallen  down  stairs.  But  he 
was  safe,  though  the  great  tears  were  run- 
ning down  his  cheeks ;  and  he  sobbed  out, 
'  Mamma !  mamma !  Edith  won't  come  to  see 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  183 

Aunt  Fawny ! '  Dear  little  fellow !  It  seems 
that  Edith  was  the  shyest  little  maiden  in 
the  world,  and  Bailey,  in  his  loving  endeavor 
to  get  her  to  come  to  me,  had  first  coaxed 
her,  then  kissed  her  over  and  over  again,  and 
at  last,  broken-hearted  about  it,  had  burst 
into  loud  crying.  Edith  stood  at  the  turn 
of  the  stairs,  ready  to  dart  away ;  and  when 
I  said, '  Do  come,  darling — come,  little  Edith,' 
she  fled  like  a  frightened  fawn,  upon  which 
Bailey  began  lamenting  again,  and  I  had 
hard  work  to  bring  the  peace  once  more  into 
his  little,  loving,  troubled  heart. 

"When  we  returned  to  the  room,  Miss 
Laura,  the  young  lady  who  was  visiting  the 
family,  told  a  funny  story  about  Bailey.  She 
was  walking  in  the  beautiful  glen  before 


184  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

breakfast,  and  frolicking  round  <her  were 
Gouldy,  and  Caesar,  and  Bailey." 

"  Were  they  all  boys  ?  or  what  ? "  asked 
the  children. 

"  Not  exactly,  for  two  of  them  were  dogs ; 
but  far  better  and  gentler  companions  than 
some  boys  I  know.  Gouldy  was  a  dear  old 
fellow,  that  would  not  have  hurt  a  hair  of 
your  head  for  a  thousand  dollars  in  gold, 
even  if  he  knew  about  or  cared  for  money ; 
and  Caesar — Oh !  he  was  something  and  some- 
body very  extra  indeed." 

"  What !  did  he  have  horns  on  his  head  ?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  Not  a  horn ;  but  he  once  belonged  to 
the  good  and  famous  Dr.  Kane,  the  great 
Arctic  explorer;  and  Caesar  had  seen  as 


DR.  KANE  AND  CEASAH  IN  THE  AECTIC  REGIONS. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  185 

many  icebergs  and  white  bears  as  lie  wanted 
to,  and  a  few  over,  I  imagine ;  for  Dr.  Kane 
gave  Mm  to  liis  friend,  the  owner  of  Idle- 
wild  ;  and  the  good  dog  tells  his  new  master 
every  day  by  an  extra  flourish  of  his  tail, 
how  happy  he  is,  and  how  much  he  loves  to 
live  in  such  a  lovely  place,  and  with  such 
lovely  children. 

"  Well,  as  I  was  telling  you,  the  dogs  and 
little  Bailey  were  scampering  here  and  there, 
while  Miss  Laura  walked  in  the  glen,  think- 
ing how  sweetly  the  rippling  golden  light 
came  down  through  the  green  leaves.  After 
a  while  she  thought  it  was  time  to  return,  so 
she  called — 'Come,  Gouldy,  come,  Csesar, 
come,  Bailey.  It  is  time  to  go  home.'  Up 
bounded  the  two  dogs  at  her  bidding,  but 


186  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

the  darling  little  rogue,  Bailey,  pretended  to 
be  very  busy  looking  for  something  in  the 
grass.  Then  the  dogs,  seeing  that  he  did  not 
mind,  went  leaping  off,  tumbling  over  each 
other,  pretending  to  bite,  and  growling  at  a 
great  rate.  So  Miss  Laura  walked  a  few 
steps  nearer  Bailey,  and  called  again — '  Come, 
Gouldy,  come,  Caesar,  come,  Bailey?  The 
dogs  ran  to  her  as  before,  but  Bailey  walked 
as  grave  as  any  deacon,  and  looking  side- 
ways at  her,  with  a  merry  twinkle  in  his  blue 
eyes,  and  a  comical  little  chuckle,  he  said — 
'  Miss  Laura,  there  is  no  dog  of  that  name  in 
this  place.1  His  face  looked  so  full  of  fun 
and  mischief,  that  Miss  Laura  screamed  out 
laughing,  and  then  Bailey  laughed,  and  was 
very  glad  he  had  been  so  funny." 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  187 

"  What  a  funny  little  fellow,"  exclaimed 
the  children,  "  to  make  believe  Miss  Laura 
did  not  mean  him  when  she  called.  I  do 
wish  he  could  come  and  play  with  us.  He's 
a  darling !  Well,  please  go  on  Aunt  Fanny." 

"  While  we  were  sitting  in  the  parlor, 
Bailey  brought  me  a  superb  book  of  engrav- 
ings to  look  at.  They  were  flowers.  I  only 
wish  you  could  have  heard  him  telling  me 
the  long  names,  slowly  and  carefully,  in  such 
a  sweet  little  voice — '  This  is  the  Rho-de-den- 
dron,'  and  then  giving  a  quick,  satisfied  sigh, 
because  he  had  gotten  it  all  right.  When 
he  showed  me  a  picture  of  a  splendid  lily,  I 
looked  at  the  beautiful  flower,  and  then  at 
his  innocent  baby-brow,  and  in  his  unclouded 
eyes,  through  which  the  immortal  soul  shone 


188  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

purer  and  whiter  than  any  lily,  and  softly 
said — '  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field ;  they 
toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin ; '  and  as  I  bent 
over  to  kiss  this  immortal  lily,  I  heard  the 
gentle  little  mother  murmur — '  Yet  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.'  Truly  the  innocence  of  a  little  child 
invests  him  with  a  greater  glory  than  any 
this  world  can  give.  Why  may  we  not  al- 
ways retain  it,  pure  and  undefiled  ? 

"  At  last  the  carriage  came  to  take  me 
away ;  and  they  all  bid  me  a  kind  adieu ; 
and  Bailey  and  Daisy  kissed  me  so  lovingly, 
that  I  felt  the  kisses  all  the  way  to  my  heart, 
where  I  mean  to  keep  the  memory  of  them 
as  long  as  I  live.  Wonderful  to  relate,  some- 
thing happened  at  the  very  last  moment,  that 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  189 

made  Bailey  dance  with  delight,  for  Edith, 
shy  Edith,  ran  to  me  and  put  up  her  sweet 
pink  and  white  cheek  for  a  kiss ;  and  so  I 
left  beautiful  Idlewild,  a  very  happy  Aunt 
Fanny." 

The  children  were  delighted  with  this 
account,  which  Minnie  called  "  a  very  nice 
inscription? 

"  And  now  about  the  birds,  Aunt  Fanny. 
You  know  you  told  us  to  put  you  in  mind." 

"  Oh,  yes.  Well,  I  will  try  to  remember 
what  I  read  in  the  Home  Journal  a  year  ago 
about  the  dear  little  winter  birds  at  Idlewild." 

"  There  is  a  charming  study  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  house ;  and  the  father  of 
Daisy,  and  Edith,  and  Bailey,  began  his  beau- 
tiful little  story,  by  saying  that  he  had  two 


190  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

very  sociable  sets  of  visitors  in  his  study 
early  every  morning.  First  the  little  folks 
jump  out  of  their  beds,  and  run  in  to  him  in 
their  slippers  and  nightgowns,  just  as  Laina 
the  cook,  with  her  kind  dark  face,  comes 
along  with  the  tea-tray  for  him,  and  bread 
for  the  second  set  of  visitors.  The  children 
crumble  the  bread  very  joyfully  and  care- 
fully, and  the  window  is  quickly  opened,  (for 
it  is  winter,  and  snowing,)  and  the  bread-feast 
is  spread  out  over  the  roof  of  the  portico. 

"  Then  the  children  cluster  round  the  fire, 
and  talk  about  the  dogs  and  the  peacock 
and  their  lessons,  keeping  one  eye  upon  the 
window,  near  which  the  snow-white  hemlocks 
are  bowing  in  the  wintry  wind. 

"Presently — 'Hush!     There  they  are!' 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  191 

and  the  little  nightgowns  flutter  softly  to  the 
window,  and  gaze  lovingly  at  fifteen  or 
twenty  little  birds,  in  only  their'  bare  feet 
and  feathers,  who  have  come  with  the  first 
peep  of  dawn,  and  are  made  happy  with  a 
bountiful  breakfast.  They  were  dear  old 
birds,  that  had  been  before,  and  no  doubt 
some  invited  friends.  Such  a  nice  time  as 
they  all  have !  inside  the  window  and  out ; 
and  the  children  are  so  delighted  that  they 
can  soften  the  winter  for  those  poor  little 
houseless  ones  out  in  the  cold,  who,  remem- 
bering the  kindness  of  last  year,  came  so 
trustingly  again.  It  was  this  confidence  and 
love  that  was  shown  by  the  dear  little  birds, 
that  made  the  children  so  glad ;  and  a  rosier, 
happier  troop  of  little  folk,  could  hardly  be 


192  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

found  than  this  early  morning  party  in  Idle- 
wild  study." 

"  Oh !  oh  !  how  sweet !  how  lovely  ! " 
cried  the  children.  "  How  we  wish  we  lived 
at  Idlewild,  or  at  any  rate  in  the  country, 
where  we  could  feed  the  little  birds.  We 
wish  it  would  snow  like  every  thing  this  very 
minute." 

Aunt  Fanny  laughed,  and  said  she  was 
delighted,  the  story  had  pleased  them  so 
much,  but  was  afraid  she  had  not  done  it 
justice,  as  it  had  been  most  beautifully  told 
in  the  Home  Journal ;  but  she  could  not  re- 
member the  exact  words. 

After  tea  that  evening,  the  whole  family 
went  out  in  a  large  row-boat.  It  was  bright 
moonlight.  A  light  breeze  stole  through 


THE  WICKED  WATER  FAIRY. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  193 

the  tree-tops,  making  soft  music ;  and  it  was 
so  still  and  sweet  on  the  water,  that  every- 
body felt  a  thrill  of  delight. 

Charley  had  been  carried  down  to  the 
water,  and  he  sat  in*  the  bow  of  the  boat, 
leaning  his  head  upon  his  mother's  breast. 
He  was  in  no  pain,  and  soothed  by  the  mea- 
sured and  musical  drip  of  the  oars,  he  closed 
his  blue  eyes  and  fell  into  a  sweet  sleep. 

In  a  few  moments  he  was  awakened  by 
a  tap  upon  his  arm ;  opening  his  eyes,  he  be- 
held, close  by  him,  seated  upon  the  back  of 
a  flying-fish,  an  ugly  kelpie,  or  water-fairy, 
with  a  malevolent,  evil  aspect,  who  regarded 
him  with  a  look  of  hate. 

"  Come  out  of  the  boat !  come  out  of  the 
boat ! "  he  said,  in  a  baleful  whisper. 
13 


194  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

Spite  of  his  terror  and  shrinking,  Char- 
ley felt  himself  impelled  to  lean  over  and 
look  down  into  the  moon-lit  water. 

Oh !  what  frightful  forms  he  saw  !  Some 
riding  on  crabs,  some  on  great  leeches,  and 
more  on  the  backs  of  flying-fishes,  who  took 
tremendous  leaps  in  the  air,  while  their 
riders  nttered  frantic  yells  of  delight. 

The  poor  boy  felt  that  some  horrible  but 
irresistible  power  was  dragging  him  down, 
down  into  the  deep  water,  where  these 
wicked  imps  would  bury  him  in  some  dark 
cave.  He  struggled  to  resist  the  impulse  to 
plunge,  but  it  grew  stronger  and  stronger, 
till,  with  a  faint  moan  of  despair,  he  was  just 
yielding  to  his  hapless  fate,  when  the  sound 
of  distant  fairy  music  broke  upon  his  ear,  and 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  FAIRIES. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  195 

raising  his  head,  he  beheld,  riding  swiftly 
down  on  the  moonbeams,  in  all  the  pomp 
and  blazonry  of  military  equipment,  a  band 
of  armed  fairy  knights,  with  Firefly  at  their 
head.  On  they  came,  with  dash  and  hurry, 
and  soon  the  air  was  darkened  with  arrows 
and  javelins  hurled  at  the  hateful  water- 
sprites. 

Fast  and  sharp  they  came,  and  in  a  very 
few  moments  a  still  more  brilliant  light 
gleamed  from  the  eyes  of  the  victorious 
army,  as  the  kelpies,  after  a  short  but  furi- 
ous resistance,  sank  yelling  with  rage  and 
disappointment  beneath  the  wave,  and  the 
water  became  still  and  glassy  as  before. 

The  agitated  boy  heard  a  tiny  but  hearty 
shout  of  triumph,  and  then  the  brave  little 


196  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

fairy  soldiers,  after  kissing  their  hands  and 
waving  their  gossamer  scarfs  at  Charley, 
turned  and  flew  on  their  light  and  winged 
steeds,  towards  -  the  beautiful  hollow  from 
which  the  good  Queen  had  sent  them,  for 
she  -knew,  by  her  fairy  power,  .the  danger 
her  beloved  Charley  was  in. 

The  music,  faint  and  sweet,  lingered  till 
the  last  lance  had  flashed  in  the  moonbeams, 
as  it  disappeared  over  the  tall  tree-tops,  and 
then  it  died  insensibly  away,  so  lingering 
were  the  delicious  notes. 

Then  the  wondering  boy  looking  round, 
saw  only  the  bright  moon,  the  still  water, 

and  the  row-boat  full  of  his  brothers  and 

» 

sisters. 

"  Why,  Charley,"  said  his  mother,  kiss- 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  197 

ing  him,  "  you  have  had  a  nice  little  sleep  ; 
haven't  you  3 " 

"  Sleep  2  Oh  no ! "  answered  the  bewil- 
dered child.  "  Did  you  see  the  battle  ? " 

"  BATTLE  ! "  screamed  all  the  children. 
"  Why,  Charley,  you  must  be  getting  crazy ! " 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  Charley,  very  earnestly, 
"  this  time  it  really  happened ; "  and  he  told 
of  the  battle  of  the  fairies,  while  the  children 
opened  their  eyes  and  mouths  so  wide  with 
astonishment,  that  their  faces  looked  all 
holes ;  and  they  stared  with  all  their  might 
up  at  the  moonbeams  and  down  into  the 
water,  in  the  hope  that  at  least  some  one 
fairy  might  have  found  it  necessary  to  see 
Charley  safe  on  dry  land ;  but  I  am  sorry  to 
have  to  relate  that  they  were  not  gratified 


198  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

with  a  sight,  though  their  very  eye-balls 
stuck  out,  so  intense  and  eager  did  they  look, 
and  so  sure  was  Charley  that  he  had  not 
been  asleep. 

Had  lie  been  asleep  f 

And  now,  for  more  than  a  month  after 
this,  Charley  and  the  rest  of  the  children 
lived  a  most  delightful  life.  They  were  up 
at  drum*beat  every  morning.  They  would 
not  have  missed  a  parade  on  any  account 
whatever,  that  is,  all  except  Charley,  and  he 
enjoyed  it  almost  as  much  as  the  rest.  They 
were  so  enthusiastic  and  glowing  in  their  de- 
scriptions. They  even  went  to  a  stag-dance 
at  night,  and  almost  killed  themselves  laugh- 
ing at  the  cadets. 

This  stag-dance  is    performed    on  the 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  199 

green.  A  ring  is  formed,  and  a  tallow  can- 
dle is  stuck  in  a  cut  potato,  and  placed  at  4n- 
tervals  round  the  circle ;  and  within  this  not 
very  brilliant  illumination,  the  cadets  dance 
with  each  other  to  the  excellent  music  of  the 
band.  Those  who  personate  ladies,  take 
hold  of  their  little  bob-tailed  jackets,  and 
prink  and  mince,  and  take  fine  airs  upon 
themselves,  and  look  so  precisely  like  fine 
ladies,  that  the  real  fine  ladies  looking  at 
them,  want  to  give  them  a  good  shaking. 

But  the  children  went  off  into  fits  of 
laughter  at  the  long  and  quizzical  shadows 
on  the  ground.  When  the  cadets  dance  a 
figure,  their  shadows  look  like  a  company  of 
sickly,  melancholy  monkeys,  which  dodge 
about  in  a  distracting  way,  and  look  so  irre- 


FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

sistibly  funny,  that  everybody  shouts  with 
laughter — and  it  is  a  very  merry  spectacle. 

Then  this  pleasant  family  had  the  most 
delightful  tea  parties  in  an  arbor  at  the 
back  of  the  house.  To  be  sure  the  ear-wigs 
and  daddy-long-legs,  would  drop  into  their 
tea  once  in  a  while,  making  them  first  squeal, 
and  jump  up,  and  then  laugh,  and  a  grass- 
hopper or  two,  would  hop  suddenly  on  the 
cake,  and  hop  more  suddenly  off,  before  they 
could  catch  him ;  but  what  of  that  ?  Some 
people  shriek  so  if  a  grasshopper  hops  near 
them,  you  would  think  it  was  an  elephant 
come  to  pack  them  up  in  his  trunk,  for  the 
rest  of  their  lives ;  but  these  children  had 
more  sense,  and  did  not  mind  a  little  insect 
a  thousand  times  smaller  than  themselves. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  201 

*  *  *  * 

A:ND  now  I  must  come  to  a  sad,  sad  part 
of  my  story — I  dread  to  begin  it — and  would 
gladly  have  told  you  a  great  deal  more  about 
the  fairies,  and  what  they  did  for  Charley ; 
but  Mr.  Appleton  says,  you  would  not  like 
to  have  the  same  story  go  through  two 
bookstand  this,  I  am  afraid,  is  already  too 
long. 

But  I  must  relate  one  circumstance. 
Charley  had  retired  to  his  little  bed  one 
evening  earlier  than  usual ;  dark,  lowering 
clouds  had  sped  quickly  over  the  sky,  soon 
after  he  fell  asleep.  The  tops  of  the  high 
trees,  skirting  the  fairy  hollow,  waved  *  rest- 
lessly to  and  fro,  and  the  angry  growls  of  the 
thunder  portended  a  violent  storm.  This 


202  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

night,  there  was  to  have  been  a  festival  in 
the  beautiful  hollow. 

As  the  fairies  flew  along  in  the  troubled 
air,  and  the  Queen  tried  vainly  to  charm 
away  the  coming  tempest,  (for  they  were  to 
carry  Charley  to  the  hollow  that  night,)  a 
dark  form,  like  gathered  mist,  went  slowly 
past,  her  head  bent,  her  arms  folded. 

And  now,  the  lightnings  came  with  a 
blinding  glare,  and  the  grand  booming  of 
Heaven's  artillery  awoke  the  solemn  echoes. 
Fast  the  affrighted,  shuddering  fairies  sped 
away,  to  hide  under  the  fern  leaves,  and  in 
the  tiny  caves  at  the  foot  of  the  rocks.  But 
the  misty,  shadowy  form  still  floated  past,  till 
it  arrived  at  the  open  window  of  Charley's 
room. 


THE  ANGEL  OF  DEATH. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  203 

With  noiseless  motion  it  glided  to  the 
bed,  bent  over  Charley,  and  whispered  in  a 
soft,  sweet  voice,  "  Beloved  one,  you  are  taken 
away  in  your  early  and  lovely  spring-time, 
because  for  you,  to  live,  is  to  suffer.  You 
will  go  where  there  are  no  storms,  no  sor- 
rows, no  sufferings  ;  clasped  in  my  arms,  you 
will  sleep,  and  be  at  rest  forever."  • 

And  Charley  smiled  lovingly  upon  the 
ANGEL  OF  DEATH,  and  his  sleep  grew  deeper, 
and  calmer,  and  sweeter.  But  the  next  day, 
he  told  his  mother,  and  sisters,  and  brothers, 
of  his  mournful  visitor,  who  had  passed  out 
of  the  window  into  the  veiling  clouds,  and 
disappeared.  The  children  burst  into  pas- 
sionate weeping,  and  clasped  him  in  their 
arms,  and  refused  to  let  him  go.  The  little 


204  FAIRY    NIGHTCAPS. 

mother  knew  he  had  been  dreaming  as  be- 
fore ;  but  alas !  she  knew  also  only  too  well, 
that  her  darling's  time  had  come.  He  suf- 
fered no  pain ;  but  he  became  weaker  and 
weaker,  and  life  was  slowly  but  surely  ebb- 
ing away.  Consumption,  that  fell  disease, 
had  nearly  finished  her  baleful  work,  and 
his  lamp  of  life,  flickering  and  dim,  would 
soon  pass  away  into  the  dark  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death. 

God  knew  best,  and  in  His  infinite  wis- 
dom saw  fit  to  take  Charley  out  of  this 
wearisome  world,  in  which,  if  he  had  lived, 
he  would  suffer  so  much. 

But  the  child  was  so  much  beloved.  He 
was  the  sunlight  of  the  house  /  and  the  pang 
of  parting  would  be  so  cruel.  They  knew 


THE  CHILDBEN'S  LIFE.  205 

that  they  "would  meet  again  in  the  place 
Jesus  had  prepared  for  them  in  His  Father's 
house — they  knew  tliat  /  but  how  could  they 
help  grieving  now  ? 

The  good  doctor  came  every  day,  and 
used  his  utmost  skill,  for  he  dearly  loved  the 
sweet,  patient  child ;  but  it  was  of  no  avail, 
Charley's  everlasting  HOME  was  ready  for 
him. 

Slowly  and  sadly  the  poor  children  wan- 
dered around ;  for  their  sorrow  pressed  like 
a  weight  upon  them.  They  would  come 
softly  to  his  bedside,  smooth  his  golden  hair, 
and  kiss  his  forehead,  and  hope  he  would  yet 
get  well;  then  seeing  his  pallid  face,  and 
little  wasted  hands  lying  so  still  outside  of 
the  white  bedspread,  they  would  go  hastily 


206  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

away,  and  shed  bitter,  bitter  tears;  vainly 
struggling  to  repress  them,  lest  lie  should 
hear  and  be  grieved. 

The  joyous  little  birds  still  sang  in  the 
trees ;  the  majestic  Highlands  still  rose  in 
the  blue  air ;  and  the  splendid  sunset  clouds 
still  covered  their  summits  with  a  glory ;  the 
glittering  water  was  beautiful  as  ever.  The 
drums  beat  to  reveille,  and  crowds  of  gay 
people  walked  about  the  parade-ground. 

And  Charley  was  dying. 

Even  now,  the  loving  guardian  angels 
were  waiting  on  the  other  side  of  the  dark 
valley,  to  conduct  this  summer  blossom  to 
his  heavenly  home.  Myriads  of  little  chil- 
dren were  tuning  their  golden  harps,  to  greet 
his  purified  spirit  with  a  hymn  of  joyful  wel- 
come, and  Jesus  was  saying,  "  Come." 


THE  CHILDEEN'S  LIFE.  207 

And  now,  his  last  day  on  earth  was  pass- 
ing— lovely  and  serene.  Charley's  little  bed 
had  been  moved  in  the  afternoon,  close  to 
the  open  window,  where  he  could  see  the 
white  sails  gliding  by  on  the  smooth  silvery 
water.  A  peace  from  within,  not  of  this 
world,  illuminated  his  sweet  face.  He  had 
sent  for  all  his  brothers  and  sisters,  and  with 
a  faint  voice,  and  at  broken  intervals,  was 
talking  to  them,  and  giving  to  each  one  some 
little  trifle  belonging  to  him ;  and  one  by 
one,  convulsed  with  sobs,  they  would  rush 
from  the  room — and  after  a  painful  struggle 
would  return,  with  their  tears  forced  back ; 
their  loving  gaze  fastened  upon  him,  whom 
in  a  few  short  hours  they  would  see  no  more. 

When  the  good  doctor  entered,  and  saw 


208  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS.    • 

that  the  end  was  so  near?  his  features  worked 
painfully,  and  covering  his  face  with  his 
hands,  in  another  moment  the  great  scalding 
tears  trickled  through.  This  brave  man,  in 
the  midst  of  battle,  with  the  death  strokes 
falling  right  and  left,  and  the  great  cannons 
booming  destruction  before  him,  had  walked 
without  fear  or  flinching  among  the  dead 
and  wounded,  giving  help  and  succor;  but 
now,  loving  and  tender-hearted  as  he  was 
brave,  he  had  covered  his  face,  and  was  weep- 
ing like  a  child. 

"  Tell  the  doctor  not  to  cry,"  whispered 
the  dying  boy.  "  I  am  going  home  to  Jesus. 
I  am  going  now"  he  said,  with  a  gasping 
sis:h.  "  Kiss  me,  mother.  Oh !  how  I  thank 

o  / 

you  for  all  your  love  and  kindness.     I  thank 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  209T 

you  all ;  I  bless  you  all.  GOD  bless  you  all ; " 
and  thus  to  the  end,  grateful  and  loving, 
Charley  spoke  his  last  words. 

For  now  his  silken  hair  lay  heavy  and 
damp  upon  his  snow-white  forehead ;  and  as 
the  solemn  twilight  deepened  into  shade,  and 
the  first  star  broke  like  a  promise  in  the  sky, 
one  little  upward  fluttering  sigh  was  heard, 
and  they  knew  that  this  life  was  ended,  and 
Charley  was  winging  his  bright  way  to 
HEAVEN. 

Not  a  word  was  spoken,  not  a  sob  broke 
the  stillness.  The  moonbeams,  struggling 
into  the  room,  disclosed  the  little  mother  on 
her  knees  by  the  small  white  couch,  her  head 
buried  in  the  white  coverings.  The  children 
sat  sorrow-stricken,  motionless,  almost  breath- 
14 


210  FAIRY  NIGHTCAPS. 

less,  their  eyes  fastened  on  the  face  of  the 
dead  child,  in  a  despairing  hope  that  he 
might  speak  again ;  but  not  a  breath  stirred 
those  still  lips.  The  good  doctor,  after  a 
while,  tenderly  raised  the  heart-broken 
mother,  and  led  her  away,  and  then  sending 
for  some  kind  neighbors,  they  gently  and 
lovingly  prepared  the  remains  of  Charley  for 
their  last  quiet  resting-place. 

How  lovely  now  looked  what  was  left 
of  the  good  and  lovely  boy.  The  glistening 
golden  curls  pressed  closely  around  the 
broad,  open  brow,  white  as  a  lily,  and  a 
heaven-sent  smile  just  parted  the  pale  lips. 
The  leaves  of  a  cluster  of  white  roses  curled 
around  his  little  hands,  which  were  folded  so 
tenderly  above  his  stilled  and  quiet  heart ; 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  211 

and  every  flower  that  lie  loved  was  placed 
with,  tears  and  kisses  all  about  him. 

But  oh !  what  a  desolate  cry  arose  in 
those  children's  hearts  when  the  little  coffin 
was  closed,  and  the  sweet,  peaceful  face  was 
seen  no  more.  Charley  was  in  heaven — 
Charley  was  happy,  but  they  wanted  him, 
they  wanted  him. 

It  seemed  so  cruel  that  the  world  should 
go  on  gay  as  ever,  and  their  Charley  dead. 
They  wondered,  as  they  came  on  board  the 
boat,  which  was  to  carry  what  was  left  of 
their  darling  back  to  New  York,  they  won- 
dered why  every  face  was  not  tearful,  when 
theirs  was  so  full  of  sorrow. 

They  made  a  little  grave  for  him  in  the 
beautiful  Greenwood  Cemetery.  The  soft 


212  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

moonlight  sleeps  lovingly  upon  it,  and  people 
tread  lightly  as  they  approach  and  read  the 
name  of  "  LAME  CHAELEY." 

Slowly  and  sadly  passed  the  rest  of  the 
summer,  for  the  little  mother  told  no  more 
stories.  Once  she  tried,  for  she  could  not 
bear  to  see  the  sad  faces  of  her  children; 
v  alas  !  that  one  vanished  face,  with  its  sweet, 
grateful  smile,  and  little  tender  ways,  came 
before  her,  and  the  story  was  lost  in  a  flood 
of  tears. 

But  late  one  lovely  evening,  as  she  was 
sitting  by  the  open  window,  thinking  of  her 
loved  and  lost  one,  some  friend,  unseen  be- 
neath, sang  these  words,  to  a  sweet  and  ten- 
der melody — 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  213 

"  Mildly,  sweet  summer  moon, 

Shine  on  this  mother,  weeping; 
Whisper  within  her  heart, 
'  He  is  not  dead,  "but  sleeping.' 

"  Softly,  sweet  summer  stars, 
Evermore  vigil  keeping, 
Tell  her,  in  steadfast  tones, 
1  He  is  not  dead,  but  sleeping.' 

"  Gently,  sweet  summer  wind, 

All  things  in  perfume  steeping; 
Breathe  in  her  sorrowing  soul, 
1  He  is  not  dead,  but  sleeping ; 

"  '  And  safe  in  Jesus'  arms, 

His  great  reward  is  reaping.' 
Up !  mother,  up !  and  cry, 
1  He  is  not  dead,  but  sleeping.'  " 

A  faint  flush  passed  over  the  mother's 


214  FAIRY   NIGHTCAPS. 

pale  cheek,  for  she  knew  that  some  one  who 
loved  her,  had  thus  tenderly  warned  her 
that  her  grief  was  not  endured  as  hopefully 
as  it  should  be.  She  had  not  remembered 
that  her  beloved  Charley  was  only  "  gone 
before,  not  lost." 

With  an  earnest,  prayerful  effort,  she 
once  more  grew  cheerful,  and  with  her  cheer- 
fulness came  happiness  to  the  children's 
hearts,  though  they  all  their  lives  will  re- 
member their  good,  pure,  and  tenderly  be- 
loved brother — whom  you,  dear  little  reader, 
also  love,  and  know  as 

LAME  CHARLEY. 

Dear  little  readers,  you  and  I  have  now 

followed  Charley  together  through  six  books, 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIFE.  215 

in  which  his  life,  and  the  lives  of  his  brothers 
and  sisters,  have  been  faithfully  portrayed. 
If  the  good  and  pure  life  of  the  little  lame 
child,  now  happy  in  heaven,  gives  you  one. 
steadfast  resolution,  to  endeavor,  from  this 
time  forth,  to  lead  a  good  and  pure  life,  it 
will  gladden  the  inmost  heart  of  your  loving 

AUNT 


THE   END. 


f  ropartet 


PUBLISHED  BY 


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in.  FLORENCE  ARNOTT;  or, 

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